What Could Have Been
by Avenging Neko
Summary: Seras Victoria hasn't been a vampire for long, only about a month, and she's not very comfortable in her Master's presence yet. Unfortunately, Sir Integra is dead, and Alucard is free to do as he pleases. It just so happens that 'as he pleases' involves taking her with him. Oh dear
1. Chapter 1

**What Could Have Been**

**_AN:_ **That's right. I'm not dead. ;o  
I was on a bit of a break from the computer for family stuff. Yanno, the holidays and all that jazz. But I;m back with a new story for all my faithful readers. ^^ The Seldom Seen is not abandoned by any means, I'm just temporarily out of ideas and focusing what time my muse gives me on this fic.

* * *

Seras Victoria stirred, a frown tugging her lips, her hand reaching out plaintively and finding nothing. A low whimper bubbled from her throat and her weight shifted to roll over, but a hand on her shoulders stopped her. Stilling instantly at the touch, she settled obediently back into her former position and drifted back into the void of darkness.

Faintly, she thought she heard a _'clickity clack' _sort of sound, and her bed seemed to vibrate in time with the noise. But her brain just wouldn't wake enough for her to deal with these oddities and she turned her head to pillow her cheek on her arm.

...

Muffled voices sounded in her ears and she frowned, squinching up her face as she turned her head the other way. The voices persisted and she growled, flinging her free arm up to wrap around her head and cover her other ear. She just wanted to sleep, damnit. There was a pause, and then a low rumbling sound that reminded her suspiciously of her Master's laughter, before the voices continued in softer tones, and then something was lifting her.

Startled almost into waking fully, she squirmed, uncomfortable with the thought of being carried. A warning growl vibrated against her back and she went rigid in alarm, "Police Girl, stop your infernal squirming or I will drop you."

Panicked adrenaline filled her and gave her the strength to open her eyes and stare up at her Sire from a disconcertingly close distance. _Oh god…_ What was going on? Why was he holding her? Where were they? Why? The questions ricocheted around in her head like super balls, banging into each other and wreaking utter havoc on her mind.

To be completely honest with herself she was scared of the aloof man who had changed her into a vampire a mere month ago; the only times he'd spoken to her were to berate her for not drinking the blood and impersonal commands during the few mission Sir Integra had sent them on. He never called her by name, either, and while not openly hostile… she was sure he didn't like her. But maybe that was all in her head? Confused and frightened, she lay stiffly in his arms as he carried her through what appeared to be a train.

"Where are we?" She asked, and as he tilted his head down to look at her and she saw herself reflected in his yellow glasses, a chill traveled up her spine, "Sir." She added hastily.

A fang filled smirk was her answer as he continued walking, his long legs eating up the distance easily. Wariness filled her and she glanced around again to confirm they were indeed in a train, "I can walk, you know." She muttered under her breath, and yelped as he dropped her and she landed painfully on her rump, her head banging the edge of an empty seat. "Owww…"

"Weakling." He spat the insult casually as he bent over at the waist to hook his fingers in the back of her shirt and haul her upright. Swaying slightly on her feet, feeling disoriented from the impact her skull made with the metal rim, she stumbled after him weakly. It was then she noticed his lack of gloves.

She frowned as she tripped over her own feet, her fuzzy brain screaming at her that something was wrong. Something about his gloves…

_My head hurts._

Gaining some of her balance back, she had to quick-step to keep up with him, and the thought struck her that this train was strangely empty. She was sure she heard voices earlier, though, so that was odd. A moment later they exited the train into a busy looking station and she felt unease roiling in the back of her mind. "Master… I don't remember hearing about any missions..?" She asked tentatively, steps beginning to slow as she lagged farther and farther behind the red clad man.

"That's because there wasn't one, Police Girl." He answered coldly, turning to look at her over his shoulder.

_What..? But, but… _"Won't Sir Integra be angry we left?" The blonde asked in a near whisper, stopped completely in her tracks. The woman may only be human, but she is damned scary.

He halted as well and turned fully to face her with an odd look on his face that raised the small hairs on the back of her neck, "Integra is dead, Police Girl."

Blind panic filled her once more as her brain screamed the answer to the wrongness from before; with Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing dead, nothing restrained the ancient male vampire from doing what he pleased. She tensed to bolt into the crowd when he slid his glasses down his nose and glowing red eyes pierced her very soul.

"_**Don't run from me, Police Girl."**_

His words resonated in her skull, and she felt weird… kinda… dizzy…

Swaying on her feet, eyelids drooping, the blonde's facial features went slack and her right foot lifted to continue walking as his next words throbbed between her ears and behind her eyes like a drum; _**"Come here, Police Girl."**_

"Yes, Master."

She walked to him, and his right hand came down on her shoulder and pulled her flush to his side as he led them through the crowds to another train idling in the dark, waiting for passengers to board. Muffled voices and a myriad of smells tugged at her senses as they walked through the door filled corridor until they reached a particular one and her Master slid the panel back, escorting her inside and setting her down on the bench seat opposite him.

"This is the second time I've had to control you on this journey, Police Girl. If it happens again I will be angry."

She stared at him blankly, her sluggish brain supplying her with half forgotten memories of … of … Losing the thought, she simply nodded and dropped limply to her side to lay across the bench and close her eyes.

...

Faintly, she thought she heard a _'clickity clack' _sort of sound, and her bed seemed to vibrate in time with the noise. The word 'déjà vu' came to mind and her features scrunched up in distaste.

_Nng…_

Squirming restlessly, she stilled as she felt a weight shift near her head and something warm settle atop her head.

Pet… Pet… Pet…

Purring, she leaned into the touch and felt more than heard the vibration of a deep chuckle as her head was moved and she found a new pillow. The pillow wasn't quite as soft as her upper arm, and felt a little rough, but the petting continued so she nestled her cheek into the cloth and drifted back into sleep quiescently.

"Good girl."

_(*_*) ^(*_*)^ (*_*)_


	2. Chapter 2

**What Could Have Been**

* * *

Seras' dreams were filled with blood and screams and she jerked awake with a choked cry. Shuddering violently and wrapping her arms around herself, the blonde blinked and canted her head to the side curiously. This…wasn't her room. She'd grown accustomed to the windowless basement dwelling and the sparse furnishings; it wasn't too different from her own time in orphanages and her spartan apartment… aside from the lack of windows, that is. But this… there were thick curtains drawn across the window and she lay upon a very plush king sized bed. "What?"

Vague recollections teased at her thoughts; something about… a train, and her Master. Leaving London? Rubbing her forehead as though to massage the memories into place, she felt her stomach tighten in hunger and her throat burn with thirst.

The thought of drinking the blood terrified her. She didn't want to become a monster like the creatures that ravaged the village of Cheddar, like the FREAKS Sir Integra sent her to hunt, like … like her Master who was so blood crazed and inhuman.

"Now. now, Police Girl, it isn't nice to think such things about your Master." His voice cooed from the doorway and she jumped in guilty surprise. "M-Master…"

When he approached she flinched and he clucked his tongue in amused disappointment, "Are you _scared_ of me?" The prospect seemed to amuse him.

"N-No, of course not." She muttered, refusing to look at him as she stared off to his right and above his shoulders. It was then she caught sight of a somewhat shabbily dressed and stubble ridden man with his back to the door of the hotel room – for what else could it be? – with a dazed and blank look on his face. Uncertainty and confusion made her lean back further on the bed, away from the man and her Sire. "…Master..?"

His response was a shark grin and she shrank back against the headboard, wishing she still believed in the child's fantasy of hiding beneath the blanket so the Boogey Man couldn't touch her. She was tempted to try it anyways…

With a crook of the red clad man's finger, the other male shuffled forward and she stared wide eyed as the human reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a switchblade, and with his free hand grabbed one of the complimentary cups from the dresser opposite the bed. A sinking feeling filled her gut and she opened her mouth to say something when the shabby man placed the handle of the blade between his teeth and sliced his own wrist in a spur of blood that flowed into the glass. When it was nearly full to overflowing, the elder vampire grabbed hold of the oozing limb and ran his tongue over it – she noticed that it stopped bleeding – and the man just stood there with the knife protruding from his mouth and a cup of blood in his outstretched hand like some grotesque statue.

"Drink it, Police Girl."

"No."

"I said drink it." Alucard growled as he loomed over the petite blonde perched on the bed, red eyes glowing behind his yellow tinted glasses. "No!" She snapped back, her upper lip curling back slightly to reveal her blood teeth elongated in instinctive need for the crimson liquid.

The raven haired male bared his own much more threatening teeth in response and his right hand lifted towards his glasses. A flash of memory hit her and she reacted without thinking; her hand shot forward and grabbed the handle of his gun protruding from the inner pocket of his overcoat and she fired point blank into his face, "I said NO!"

Alucard jerked back a step as she blew a hole in his skull with his own weapon, his expression blank with surprise before a vicious grin curled his lips and thick black shadows oozed into place to regenerate the missing portions of his face, "You grabbed that from my pocket. Very good. It won't happen a second time."

Rather than retaliate, the male simply drained the cup of blood himself and flicked his fingers in dismissal and the – possibly homeless – human put his blade away and left the room without a word. "Give me my gun, Police Girl. We need to talk."

Seras hesitated for a moment before placing the Cassul into the outstretched hand obediently; it's not like she had much choice, or chance to keep the weapon, he could take it from her with ease.

"Good girl." He mocked, tucking the silver oversized handgun back into his eye catching red coat.

"Where are we?"

"Paris, but we're not staying long."

Another memory tickled her thoughts and she frowned, "Sir Integra is dead, isn't she?" It wasn't even really a question as she recalled his words from earlier on the train and the blood… the stench of decomposing flesh, the feeling of dead hands grasping at her flesh, pinning her to the floor, touching her… then nothing but red. Red, red red… Shuddering violently, the blonde wrapped her arms around her middle, "What happened?"

"A miscalculation. When the loud mouthed one reached the conference room he shot Integra in the chest before the other Round Table members put him down with blessed silver. You, little fledgling, were caught in a blood rage and rekilling the ghouls that used to be Hellsing troops." Her Sire looked down at his gloveless hands with a strange look upon his face, "The Hellsing line is dead, Police Girl, and nothing remains to bind me to the church or crown of England."

"…What will you do, Master?" She asked uncertainly, feeling terribly small sitting there, hugging herself as though to keep from falling apart, with him looming so tall and powerful above her.

"Whatever I please."

"Why am I here?" The question burned for an answer, lighting her ocean blue eyes with an urgent need to know.

"Because you are mine, Police Girl. My fledgling, my responsibility, and I will see you raised as a proper vampire outside the control of humans." There was a threat implicit in his words; _whether you like it or not_.

Seras shivered and looked away, saying nothing.


	3. Chapter 3

**What Could Have Been**

* * *

"Master?" The girl asked a while later, jean clad knees pulled to her t-shirted chest as she sat upon the hotel bed and stared out the window – she had woken in this outfit and it disturbed her, but embarrassed her far too much to ask – while the elder vampire lounged beside her, reading a book in a language she didn't recognize.

"Yes, fledgling?" He murmured, flipping the page with a flick of his finger.

"I want to see the city."

He lay the book against his chest and looked at her over the rims of his glasses, dark brows arching into his hairline. "Not alone you won't, Police Girl."

Seras pursed her lips and exhaled through her nose, "Will you come with me, then, Master?"

Alucard's features took on a considering look as he sized her up, "Do you know any languages beside English, Police Girl?"

She considered fibbing, but thought better of it instantly, "No, Master."

"You will, time is a good teacher. Come, then, we have a day yet until the next train is scheduled to leave." As he sat up his clothes changed; the red coat bleeding out color until it was black as night, his charcoal suit changing to more modern dark jeans and a fitted shirt, and shiny silver grommets appeared in his riding boots. _He looked hot._

Banishing the thought with a slight flush of her cheeks, the blue eyed blonde stared at the shaggy raven haired male with ominous red eyes and dressed rather like some of the Goths she'd seen at Trafalgar Square. He slid his yellow glasses into his front coat pocket and placed the book on the bedside table, his usual fedora tossed carelessly over the back of the chair near the window.

The pair exited the hotel moments later and Seras shivered at the strange feeling of the wind in the foreign city, stepping closer to her Master instinctively. Something felt… _off_ about the breeze, she couldn't quite put her finger on why, however. Alucard began to walk and she followed doggedly, keeping at his heels to not get lost – how embarrassing would that be? – and because she had a feeling he wouldn't let her get very far alone in any case.

Seras lost track of the time they spent walking with her reveling in the pretense of freedom, taking in the sights of a city not her own. Alucard stopped abruptly and she bounced off his back with an 'oof', scrunching her nose and rubbing it with the back of her hand. _Ow._

Stepping around her Sire to stand beside him, she blinked and cocked her head to the right curiously, rather baffled at the strange sight before her sky blue eyes. They were at the edge of a graveyard and there appeared to be a silver haired woman clad in a much too large button up shirt dancing… with a corpse. She was doing the waltz, even! After a moment Seras' ears caught the sound of the mad woman's humming as she cradled the decomposing body to herself and guided the dance around the grave markers, the blonde also took note of the other's bare feet. "…What?"

"She does this at least once a week, and no one's sure of her name. She's running out of cemeteries, though, so from what I know she'll be moving on to somewhere new." A red eyed ravenette with black leggings and a rather provocative white blouse, and a little too much jewelry that strangely reminded Seras of the pirate movies she saw as a kid spoke up, leaning on the wrought iron fence. Seras saw a few others lining the outskirts of the bone yard and the shifting breeze brought the scent of darkness and undeath, alerting her confused brain that she was surrounded by vampires. Alucard, being Alucard, began to laugh, and Seras wasn't quite sure if his mirth was aimed at the dancing duo or her reaction to it.

The reverberating baritone of her Sire's amusement caused the silver female to drop the corpse as she turned and bared her ivory teeth in disconcertingly shark like grin. A grin she'd seen many times on her Master's face when he got to kill something. Seras swore she hadn't blinked or looked away from the other, but the argent female was suddenly _there_ and her mismatched gaze of ruby and sapphire bore intently into the blonde before shifting to the male at her side. A curious expression crossed her visage before she grinned and made a great show of using the hem of her much too large shirt like a skirt to courtesy to Alucard. "You smell of blood and power." The female purred as she pressed herself up against the amused male's side, rubbing her cheek against his shirt.

Seras felt a twinge of …something unpleasant when she saw the mad female fawning over her Sire in such a way. And speaking of smells… Lord! Had the female never heard of bathing? Grave dirt, stale copper, mint, and something cloyingly sweet, yet sour, filled her mouth like cotton. It reminded her of the time her power went out and the meat went bad in her fridge…

Shuddering in disgust at the thought, the blonde glared at the pair, unamused that her Sire made no attempt to remove the female from his person. Without consciously realizing it, the fledgling curled her lip and growled, catching the other's attention away from the male.

"Oh? A new dance partner! Mr. Bellingsworth was quite stiff about it, not enough to drink." Seras was startled as she suddenly found herself flung in a circle by a firm grip on her wrists, the mad woman swinging her about like a child would dance with a stuffed animal.

Alucard laughed even louder.

The ass.

From his example, perhaps, the other surrounding vampires joined in a chorus of jeering amusement at her expense. Damnit all to hell.

"Such a pretty thing you are. So young and tender…" The mad woman's voice purred, sickeningly sweet like honey dripping from a poisoned spoon. Something eerily familiar glowed in those eyes as they loomed closer and closer, making Seras feel a bit nervous. Pleadingly she turned her gaze to her Sire as her body was manipulated like a puppet to the whims of the stranger.

"And **mine**." Alucard's voice broke the spell, or whatever it was, holding her limbs numb and Seras reacted in an instant to swing her foot into the mad woman's side and bolt back to the nebulous safety of her Master's shadow.

"And wicked kings never share." The response baffled Seras as she stared at the crumpled heap against the black fence, tangled hair covering the other's face and most of her body. "But alas, I was no swimmer, so I lost my Clementine." Giggles chimed like discordant bells as the crowd began to disperse around them, leaving only the trio at the edge of the cemetery.

"Be gone harridan, you no longer amuse me this night." Alucard growled as he lifted his goggle sided shades from his pocket to slip over his nose and shield his crimson gaze. A heavy hand clamped over Seras' shoulder as he led them away from the crescendoing shriek of shrill laughter, tainted by madness and untamed darkness. Seras again lost track of the time until they found themselves atop the Eiffel Tower, gazing down at the maze like paths od darkness betwixt the myriad lights of mortal fear for the unknown. It was strange, Seras had never considered street lamps and other such illumination in such a manner until her eyes were opened to the true world of the night, or as much of it as she allowed herself to see, anyways.

"Master..?"

He grunted, which she took to mean 'go ahead and speak'. So she did.

"What was… wrong with that other vampire? She seemed _off_." Seras strugged to find the right words without flat out saying that she thought the bewildering female to be bat shit crazy.

"As you thought, fledgling, the girl is mad. Powerful, old, and mad." Sparing half a glance in her direction his lips peeled back in a show of fang, "And to answer your unasked question, no, she is no threat to me for multiple reasons. Reasons I will not get into at this time. We've seen the city, Police Girl. It's time to return to the hotel."

Seras sighed resignedly, "Yes, Master."

A swirling maw of darkness appeared beneath them and she shivered in instinctive unease of the mockery of the laws of the universe and its makings, "Master? Will we meet others? Like tonight. Ones we don't need to kill on sight." She questioned as his hand clamped over the back of her neck and pulled her to his side.

"Perhaps, Police Girl. If you behave."

With that, they disappeared into the void and vanished from the streets of Paris.

* * *

_**AN:**_So, there's two cameos here, and since I didn't kill then out right, they might appear again. :P  
The (unnamed) Nekette - silver haired one - is mine. Property of me. Interesting fact is my screen name is also her original vampire name on a different site. XD Seriously, don't steal her, she's got way too many layers of insanity for anyone else to pull her off right. ;x  
The (also unnamed) piratey 'pire is Madera, owned by VanquishLithium, who got random cameo because I was bored.

Guest appearances by other reviewers are entirely possible, since these two are going to be travelling a lot. Yes I have at least a slight plot planned when I get to it. :P No it does not involve OCs, and they won't be very important in the long run, just amusing distractions,  
Yes I am temporarily done rambling.


	4. Chapter 4

**What Could Have Been**

* * *

_Scritch... Scritch..._

Seras scrunched her nose and twitched, rolling over, only to smack her face into a wall. _Ow._ Snapping her eyes open, she jerks back and yelps as her skull impacts another wall. _What?!_

Taking a deep breath – of stale air that burned her throat – the girl forced herself to calm as she put her hand up and felt a third wall above her, but this one felt a bit different, and with a slight push, the lid of her coffin swung upwards. Sitting up and shuddering in discontent at waking in such cramped quarters, the blonde's eyes roam the room curiously. Boxes, lots and lots of boxes. The cargo hold?

_Scritch... Scritch..._

There was that sound again! Clambering from her impromptu bed, Seras Victoria realized as soon as her bare feet touched the wooden floor that she was on another train, she could feel the vibration traveling up from her toes to tremble along her nerves; hyper sensitizing her to the various sounds and smells within the storage area.

The girl's teeth ached and her throat felt parched, and as she ran her tongue over her lips she shuddered as the dry feeling intensified. Resting a hand against her stomach in an attempt to drive off the hunger pangs, a particularly violent shudder of the train threw her off balance and to the floor where her elongated fangs bit into her cheek, drawing blood. Moaning in pain, feeling feeble and strange, she swallowed instinctively as the hot liquid filled her mouth, trickling down her throat in a blessed wave of soothing dampness. But the blood was hers, and self feeding led to nothing but a blood rage. Unfortunately for the starving fledgling, she knew nothing of such matters.

_Scritch... Scritch..._

Glazed eyes turned to the right, redness seeping into the blue depths to stain them the crimson of fresh blood. A bloody tongue flicked out to lick her lips as she levered herself up to hands and knees to stalk forward on finger and toe tips in an animal crouch to pursue the source of her distraction. Within three feet, the scratching noises halted and the tang of blind and primal terror filled her nostrils like the most potent of aphrodisiacs. Growling in pleasure, she purposefully kicked one of the crates to prompt her prey to run. She craved the chase, the hunt, the feel of blood not her own on her tongue and coating her teeth in the glory of her baser nature.

The rats scattered and she gave chase with a snap of her teeth on thin air, leaping atop boxes and diving around corners to stir the rodents into further frenzy. The predator was lose and wanted to play. Time passed unheeded as she amused herself terrorizing the pest problem aboard the train, scarcely aware of anything beyond the obstacles in her path and the promise of whetting her thirst.

At last, she decided to end it, and lunged for the fastest and smartest of her terrified play things, only to slam into the wooden floor with a dull thud, a wet snap as her nose broke on impact with the ground, and a booted foot upon her back. "I think not, Police Girl. You will not be tainted by such low blood. You are of my line, and you will hunt humans like a _proper_ vampire, not some mindless beast driven by even the lowest of animal urges." The disgust in that coldly detached baritone combined with the throbbing of her skull to draw her from the haze of wherever her mind had disappeared just then. Blinking and groaning in pain, she lifted her head and licked at the hot sticky fluid covering her mouth, tasting salt and copper.

"No more of that, fledgling. Get back to your coffin." The clear command in his voice throbbed in her skull in time with the burn of her slowly healing shattered nose. Clambering awkwardly to her feet as soon as the weight of his foot left her spine, she swayed and nearly fell over as her legs went numb.

A hand grasped the back of her neck in a firm hold, hauling her back to her feet and carrying her limp form back to thw wooden rectangle in the far corner of the still vibrating room. "Such a handful. We will arrive in the morning; tomorrow you will feed, and I will brook no arguments Police Girl." He shook her lightly for emphasis as he settled her back into the satin lining of her death bed.

Her muddled thoughts struggled to comprehend his words, and she nodded vaguely as her much abused body shut down swiftly under the influence of her Sire's will. She really did need the blood, but damned if she wanted to fight it just a little longer. Darkness enveloped her mind, flavored heavily with her Master's disapproval of her continued childish defiance of her new nature.

She'd feel bad if it didn't mean the end of something important inside her. She couldn't explain it, beyond the fear of turning into a monster like the ones she'd hunted under Hellsing's employ, but she felt as though once she drank the blood, any blood beyond her own accidental self feeding, it would mean the end of… something. Of a chance to go back? She wasn't sure, just… something.

_I don't want to._

_**What you want no longer matters, Police Girl. Drink the blood, you'll feel better.**_

The words echoed hauntingly in the void where her consciousness dwelt. _Drink the blood, you'll feel better. Drink… Blood… Feel… Better…_

She ached, even in the womb of shadow where she felt disconnected from her physical self, she _burned_ to … to … what?

What did she want?

_To drink the blood._

Did she truly..?

_Yessss..._

She did.

Of course she did.

All vampires drink blood, after all.

…Right?


	5. Chapter 5

**What Could Have Been**

* * *

"As much as it would please me to see you paint the room in red, fledgling, it'd make traveling inconvenient. So get your shapely posterior up and out of that coffin so I know you're awake. No clumsy mistakes allowed, Police Girl."

Groaning, Seras opened her eyes slowly, her sluggish brain scarcely comprehending her Sire's words as trembling fingers grasped the rim of the coffin to pull herself up into a sitting position. Moments later, she blinked and recalled he said to get _out_ of the coffin, so she turned to the side and attempted to swing her leg over the side, only to tumble to the floor in a tangled heap of limbs. "Ow."

Her Sire's disappointment sounded in her ears as he tsk'd and hauled his graceless childe up onto the bed to sit her up properly. "Now, Police Girl, you're going to drink the blood and you're going to like it, and we won't need to repeat this hand holding a second time over such a simple lesson again. Is that clear?"

Seras turned her face away, lips thinned to a tight line with her silent defiance.

"If we weren't in Italy right now, fledgling, you'd be bleeding on the street in a blood thrall to teach you a lesson." Hr growled, hand raised threateningly; she flinched and he smirked.

"Drink. The. Blood."

A rather slatternly looking female stood on the opposite side of the bed with a blank look on her face and wrists bared enticingly with palms extended to bring attention to the lily white skin of her underarms and the blue lines of her veins. Seras' teeth ached.

Stubbornly, the blonde closed her eyes and clamped her jaw shut, hands clenching to fists in the covers. Alucard's snarl chilled her blood, but she refused to drink the blood willingly, damnit.

"The hard way it is, then."

Quivering in trepidation, Seras heard the rustling of clothing and the quiet thudding of feet moving around her, but no voices. An overpowering waft of lemon and vanilla choked her nose as something soft brushed across her knees and a hand clamped over the back of her neck punishingly tight. Wincing and hunching her shoulders up against the cold fingers, she found herself shoved forward with her face buried in the crook of the harlot's neck. Her hands reached out on reflex to steady herself and found purchase on the mortal's hips, sliding over the smooth satin of the skirt that tickled her bare legs. The weight on her neck forced her face to rub mockingly into the tantalizingly smooth flesh of the spellbound woman.

Seras, like most fledglings her age, still had the habit of breathing regularly, and as she inhaled, she caught a whiff of something _delicious_ beneath the cloying layer of perfume shrouding her prey's natural scent. Mouth watering and teeth throbbing, she swallowed and tried her best to block out those thoughts from her struggling mind.

_No! I don't want to… Please don't make me._

As if in response to her frantic thoughts, the female's arms came up and wrapped around her back in an embrace, forcing their chests together and the weight on her neck made it impossible to draw back from the unnerving intimacy of the moment.

"Do it." The words shocked her, coming from her prey; the female's breathy voice sounded so pleading, as though she were denying her something great by refusing to drink the blood. Seras began to tremble more violently then as the hands traveled up and down her spine, and the mortal made a low soothing croon in her throat. "Drink it, oh please…"

The feeling of her Master's darkness surrounded her on all sides, blocking out everything but the sound of the woman's beating heart and the gentle throbbing of the vein against her closed lips. Seras whimpered.

_Thump._

_Thump._

_Thump._

…_Thump…_

…_Thump…_

…_Thu…_

It was only when the last beat tapered off in her ears that she realized what she'd done.

Sweet. Hot. Fire burning in her belly exquisitely. Copper. Salt. Feeling and power returning to numb limbs.

Blood… blood pouring down her throat, the remains of a once living woman's future stolen away and sealed like a precious gem in a vault; never to see the light of day again.

She tried to feel horrified, like a monster, tried to feel ashamed, but she was utterly lost in the euphoria of fulfilling her most basic need; that of blood.

Gently the body was taken from her and the fledgling stared blankly into space, lost in the dimming flow of alien consciousness. Time. What was time? Blinking, Seras turned her head to scan the room and found it empty. A feeling crept into her chest, something she thought was … sadness perhaps. The emotion was distant and she blinked, laying back limply atop the plush bed. She felt full, and warm, like a sated child tucked into bed for the night.

A weight settled atop her head and moved to the side, lifting, resettling, and moving. It felt nice, this petting. Purring, the blonde turned to curl into the shape on the bed, her mind drifting off into the silence of sleep,

"Such a troublesome girl."


	6. Chapter 6

**What Could Have Been**

******_AN:_ **As a special New Years treat, y'all get three updates! This, and chapter 7 as soon as I finish the Seldom Seen chapter I have partially typed. Those two will go up together before I go to bed, but then there might be a longer delay for 8+ until I get back to three chapters ahead. Ah well, I update too fast anyways. :P  
Enjoy your new years gift!

* * *

"_You're an idiot."_

_She gulped, "Master…"_

"_You choose the night. Once you've turned your back on the light of day, all the sunlight should ever mean to you is smoldering pain and a slow death."_

_Shoulders and lips slumped in a frown as she looked away from the red clad figure in the doorway, uncomfortable._

…

"_Put the veteran and the rookie together and you may as well have one normal soldier." Walter chuckled, and her Master added his mirth as well._

…

"_It's here, Miss Victoria." Walter spoke as they stopped at a square indent in the surprisingly roomy air ducts. She nodded and hooked her gloved fingers into the edge of the metal to pull the covering free, revealing another panel. Turning to put the first, and rather heavy, square out of the way, she lost her balance, dropped the sheet of what she suspected to be iron, and fell bum first on the more loosely moored wooden barrier. Which then proceeded to fall out from under her and leave her trapped awkwardly mid fall. A bit of wiggling in an attempt to crawl back up onto the more secure platform of the duct led to her falling… falling… falling and landing on something rather hard and bony. "Wooah!"_

_She fell backwards and realized in a flush of embarrassment that her landing pad was actually a member of the Round Table's face. "Are you alright Miss Victoria?" Walter asked as he, too, landed in the room in a far more graceful landing. Lifting a hand to the back of her head awkwardly, she closed her eyes to block out the disapproving stares, "Hiii…"_

_Sir Penwood's mutterings of her to get off tickled._

…

"_Ow! DIE!" The vulgar loud mouth yelled as he spit blood onto the floor and raised his gun to shoot Walter. She run at him and slapped it from his hand, grabbing his arm to twist behind his back as she tackled him to the floor. "I got him Walter, are you alright?"_

…

_The younger Valentine brother elbowed her in the gut, sending her flying back into the wall to crack her head and temporarily stun her. He leapt back behind his newly risen forces of ghouls… Ghouls that used to be Hellsing's soldiers._

"_My God, what have you done?" Walter asked, horrified as she slumped to the floor, her legs refusing to respond just yet._

_The younger Valentine snapped his fingers and the ghouls began to advance, Walter began dismembering them before he was distracted by defending himself as the FREAK grabbing a discarded gun and opened fire upon the glimmering shield of moving razor floss. Seras was caught, still in the grips of her unnatural paralysis, as the mindless husks grabbed her limbs and pulled her into the center of their mass. Hands… touching her everywhere… Oh God._

"_Time to get this party started!" The FREAK taunted as he flipped over the ghouls and past Walter to run down the hall towards the Round Table conference room. Walter's wires caught his arm and it ripped cleanly off as he laughed and burst through the room, pulling out a hidden hand gun and shooting point blank into Sir Integra's chest before a volley of bullets sent him flying back to the floor in a splatter of blood._

_Seras watched, horrified, between the gaps of the crowding ghouls before everything went red. Her last thought echoed painfully in her rage filled mind; 'I failed...'_

…

Seras jerked awake with a wordless shout, smacking her head on the coffin lid. "Owww…" Rubbing at the fading pain, she pursed her lips in thought. _So that was what happened… The night Sir Integra died and her Master was freed. The night they left London._

The upper half of the coffin lid swung open to reveal her Master sitting on the other half, above her legs, with his glasses twirled by the nose piece around his index finger. "That's right, Police Girl. You were weak, and failed your mission to protect Sir Integra. Now we are free of human enslavement and I shall see you strong. For a war is still coming, have no delusions of that."

Scooting back and sitting up to lean against the edge of her coffin-bed, the blonde frowned at her dark haired Sire.

"What if I only drink the blood bags?"

He scoffed, "Do you think Hellsing will send them to you now, wherever and whenever? No. You will feed like a proper creature of the night."

"But I don't want to take human life selfishly, needlessly. I was a police officer, an upholder of the law, and peace, and protector of those who could not defend themselves!"

"And now you are a vampire." Alucard countered smoothly, carelessly.

Seras' fists clenched painfully, nails digging into her palms to the point of threatening to draw blood. "If I refuse?"

"You can't, your fate is sealed, Police Girl. You've tasted it once and shall forever be tainted by the need of it." He smirked at her, a grotesque mockery of a guardian's kindness.

"Then I'll choose my prey! If I must take life, it will be from the criminals who have evaded the law." She tensed her shoulders and squared her jaw, a hard glint in her blue eyes turning them cold as ice. She would not lose herself the way her Master had, she would still be herself! Even if that self was a vampire, a murderer.

He clapped his hands together and laughed, "Marvelous! Yes, that's just what I expected from you, fledgling. Very good, Seras." The use of her name shocked her and sent warmth thrilling through her veins. She'd pleased him somehow, with her defiance. It confused her, but the warmth of his praise made it all worth it.

"Master?"

"Yes, childe?"

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see." He grinned at her, baring his rows of sharpened teeth in a savage parody of a human's smile. She shivered, and flicked her gaze away, crossing her arms protectively across her chest and curling her fingers around her elbows.

"Yes, Master."


	7. Chapter 7

**What Could Have Been**

* * *

As the sun set, Seras stirred and brought a hand up to rub at her eyelids, only to pause midway through the gesture when she realized a few things; A – they were on another train,, no big surprise there. B – she didn't see her Master in the cramped little room. C – her pillow felt suspiciously shaped and ungiving, and she wasn't in the coffin again. Tilting her head back she stared up into the face of her Sire, upon whose lap she had been sleeping. A shiver worked its way down her spine and her hair fluffed out in wider spikes like a cat puffing itself up to appear bigger.

"Master…" Leaning up and away from him she used the excuse of stretching to move to the unoccupied bench-bed opposite her Sire. Really now, why was he all touchy feely all of the sudden? For the first month (was it truly so short a time? Being a vampire was really starting to mess with her head…) she'd known him under Hellsing employ he'd been nothing short of a cold bastard. Not that he's not still a bastard, she considered, using her hand to hide the twinges of a derisive smirk from his sight. Ever since… since _that_ night and she'd woken up on the train the first (was it, though?) time, he'd been invading her personal space and touching her; petting her head, letting her use him as a pillow, and lord only knows what else when she was unconscious.

"Feeling violated, Police Girl?" He mocked, a lecherous twist to his lips as he leered at the sleepy blonde across from him.

"Well, maybe I am!" She huffed, fidgeting and scooting closer to the door, "And for another thing, I wake up in different clothes I don't remember changing into, Master." She accused flatly. He laughed.

Seras' eyes narrowed to blue slits and she growled in frustration at the infuriating creature she was bound to.

Alucard stopped his laughter in an instant, and whipped his head back towards her to bare his fangs in a snarl, his blood teeth elongating even as she watched in fascinated horror. "Do you challenge me, chit?"

She whimpered and hunched in on herself, seeming even smaller as she edged nearer still to the door leading out into the rest of the train. He growled and stood, looming over her with a mad look in his eyes, and she cringed.

His hand caressed her cheek for the barest moment before he backhanded the same spot and sent her flying like a ragdoll out the suddenly opened door to crumble in a heap against the far wall while the barrier slammed shut in her face, locking her out. Without thinking twice, she skittered off in an awkward crouch low to the floor for a few feet before she straightened up like a normal person, though she continued to jog away from the malicious presence looming in the back of the hall.

"He's impossible." She muttered, rubbing the backs of her arms as though to warm herself as she settled herself in the far corner table of the dining car, staring out the dark window moodily.

The thought of jumping through the window and escaping the train teased at her brain, and she considered it. Master would never kn-… FUCK! A vice clamped around her skull and **squeezed**. Bringing her hands up to bat away the attacker, she felt nothing but air, and the throbbing in her head increased ten fold. Moaning under her breath in agony, she slumped against the table and covered her head with her arms in a futile attempt to protect herself. Master would, and did know, and he was punishing her for even _thinking_ of leaving him. That much was obvious from the agonizingly real phantom pain.

"The wicked king doesn't share, pretty one." A voice crooned into her ear, and she jerked upright in alarm to stare at the silver haired woman from before. "You! How.. what… Are you following us?" Seras demanded, feeling on the verge of mental exhaustion suddenly.

Sharp teeth were bared in a facsimile of her Master's shark grin, and those disconcerting eyes of fire and ice bored into her very soul. "Pretty little fledglings should obey their masters." She continued in that purring tone, reaching out her hand as though to caress Seras' cheek.

"Who are you?" Seras asked, leaning away from the touch, and noticing that the female smelled … fresher she supposed, no longer of rotting meat and grave dirt, but still that rather nauseating combination of old pennies, mint, and what she thought was the tang of cloves and roses. Though the last scent seemed to come more from the lavender button up she wore now like a dress.

"Who…hm, who indeed? I have a name I suppose." The creature mused, tapping her pointer finger to her lips in thought and crossing her bare legs, reminding Seras that she was barefoot. "Ah, that will do! You, the wicked king's pretty thing, may call me Nekette."

"Are you following us?" She asked flatly, unimpressed with the theatrics.

"What is to follow? Oh but the wicked king's power… Ahhh." Shivering, her eyes glazed, and Seras felt rather disturbed, "No, pretty thing. Only here and there."

"Why do I not believe you?" Seras asked, mostly herself as she drummed her fingers on the tabletop in an affectation of boredom.

"Because I am mad!" Nekette crowed, laughing and throwing her head back in an explosion of mirth to send her gleaming hair flying. "Oh the pretty thing is so clever to not trust the Nekette. No, no, the mad little lady…" Baring her teeth, eyes widening to inhuman proportions, she looked about ready to pounce and tear someone's throat out.

Nekette calmed so abruptly that Seras nearly leaped to her feet to bolt back the way she'd come, feeling tense and hyper aware of the elder vampire's every move. "But the pretty thing had questions, hm? Oh, the mad one knows some…" Purring, she ran the back of her hand up and over her forehead in a distinctly feline gesture. "The wicked king will guide the pretty thing, but the pretty thing should know. Vampires are animals, social creatures driven by pack order and dominance. Weaklings should be seen and not heard, and keep their teeth to themselves." Leering at the buxom blonde, the more powerful vampire vanished to appear behind the girl with arms wrapped around her chest rather provocatively. "Such a pretty pretty weak thing…." Nuzzling the side of the girl's neck, the mad one groped her palmfuls of virgin breast and vanished with a shriek of laughter that rang painfully in her sensitive ears.

"Holy…" Seras blinked.

"Wait a sec… WHAT!" She shriekd as she realized what had just happened. She felt violated and disturbed, Storming from the table and making her way back to the room she fumed inwardly about the perverse visitation. Most of what the other said made no sense, but she tucked it away to analyze later.

"Why is she following me?" Seras grumbled as she reached the room she was thrown from but minutes prior.

"Because she is a meddlesome thing, fledgling. Come inside, before you draw more attention." Alucard's voice answered as the door swung open to allow admittance.

Hyped up on nerves as she was, she sighed, and stared down at the floor. "Yes, Master."

It was best to get along with him for now at least. After all, he held all the cards, and it wasn't yet her turn to shuffle the deck.

"This is all so confusing."

* * *

_**AN:**_Yep, I'm back. XD  
In all seriousness, Nekette isn't going to be a major character or anything. I just thought it'd be interesting to see her again while these two are still travelling. It'll take a bit longer to see it, but I do have a vague plot in mind. :P

But first we have to get the initial issues out of the way between our favorite Master and Fledgling.  
Bumps in the road and all that. :D Won't this be fun? ^^


	8. Chapter 8

**What Could Have Been**

_**AN:**_That was odd, where did the first part of the note go? XD  
Giving y'all this one a bit early since I've been making you wait. (Pff, I update too fast. =P)  
And depending on when I get chapters 11 and 12 finished, I'll put nine up.

* * *

Muffled voices sounded in her ears, accompanied with an oddly familiar floating sensation. Murring, squinching her eyes shut tighter, she burrowed deeper into her pillow. Faintly, so much so it barely touched her retreating mind, she felt the sun playing footsie with the horizon and teasing the daylit world with its lingering presence. Too… early…

…

Head lolling, she felt herself sinking into something exceedingly pliant and warm. Mmm, it felt nice. Sprawling like a cat to spread herself across the plush mattress, she purred and drifted off deeper into the pleasant numbness in her brain. So… sleepy…

…

"Miss? Excuse, me, Miss Vampire, are you awake yet? Your Master told me to bring you this." A timid voice crept into her senses, calling her back from the childish dreams of sunlight and laughter. Opening her eyes grudgingly she stared into startled jade irises that quickly jerked back and hid beneath a curtain of black bangs. Seras shook her head, and yawned, stretching indolently with arms above her head.

Swinging her legs out of bed to dangle over the edge, she took this moment to scrutinize her visitor curiously; a young girl, surely not yet in her teens, dressed in what looked like a maid's uniform was staring at the wall with a package held delicately in her arms. When the girl turned to face her after a moment Seras caught sight of the black leather collar around her throat and felt disturbed. "Would you put this on, please, Miss Vampire? Your Master insisted." There was a hint of fear in those green eyes that sent a chill down her spine; she didn't want to endanger the girl! So she nodded and gazed curiously at the provocative looking blue dress, eyebrows disappearing into her blonde fringe in incredulity. He couldn't possibly be serious..!

"…" Seras opened and closed her mouth, staring at the ensemble with a brilliant red flush of horror spreading across her cheeks, "Are there any extra pieces to it he forgot?" She asked hopefully,

"Erm… no ma'am. He said if you protested to remind you your uniform was more revealing." The girl sounded uncomfortable herself now as she watched the fledgling with wide eyes.

"Yeah, but that was a uniform…" Seras grumbled as she picked the dress up by the corner and grimaced when she realized it was strapless.

"Does Miss Vampire need help? These old style clothes are tricky, you know." The girl offered, and Seras nodded helplessly. A small team of older maids bustled into the room then and there was so much movement of rustling skirts, clothes being yanked off and on her that she felt dizzy. Brushes were yanked through her hair and she yelped in protest, which seemed to prompt an attack with make up of all things! When it was all said and done and she was presented with a mirror, Seras was forced to grudgingly admit she looked nice; the dress matched the color of her eyes and teased the tops of her knees, and the bodice was actually a stylish looking black corset with white laces and a flower she didn't recognize – though she wished the neckline were a bit higher… despite the size of her bust, the little virgin wasn't comfortable showing that much breast unless she was at the pool – the make up lined her eyes in black and rouged her cheeks – did she really need it with how badly she was blushing?! – thankfully leaving her lips alone. The pigtails were rather off putting, all of her hair was scooped out of her face and she felt a little too exposed. Then she noticed it; her feet were bare. "Uhm… what about my shoes?"

The maids exchanged glances and scooted the girl forward as they retreated to other duties. The child fidgeted a moment before she answered, "None of the … fledglings in this place wear shoes, Miss Vampire." She spoke, hesitating on the word 'fledgling' which left Seras feeling suspicious of what she stopped herself from saying. "It is the court etiquette of Lord Bram's castle." She added with a nervous twitch of her lips.

Seras blinked. "Court?"

The girl gave her a startled look, "You mean your Master didn't … no, of course not. It is not my place to say, Miss Vampire. Please, if you'll follow me?"

"Do I have any choice?" She muttered to herself under her breath, fidgeting with the folds of her skirt.

The girl led her through twisting hallways and down multiple stairs until they entered what looked like a grand dining hall with no widows and countless banners hanging from the high ceiling. The presence of innumerable vampires was rather overwhelming, the taste of bloodwine in the air choking, and she caught sight of dozens of maids, wearing collars, with serving trays gliding along the edges of the massive tables.

Amongst the twisting powers and smells, her Master stood out and drew her unerringly towards him, unknowingly leaving the girl behind her as she followed the pull on her senses. She could feel the weight of many stares and had to bite her lip to keep from hunching her shoulders and shrinking in on herself like a timid child.

At last, what felt like an eternity later, she made it to the table at the end of the hall where her Master and a few others sat. Glancing at them nervously, her gaze flicked back to her Sire to see an expectant look on his face. When all she did was stand there dumbly, he reached out and backhanded her casually to the floor. She yelped and crumpled like a tag doll, bringing a hand up to her stinging cheek to stare at him with wide eyes full of shock and betrayal. What did she do?!

'_**Be more observant, Childe. If you see what you did wrong I won't punish you further in front of an audience.'**_ His voice hissed between her ears, cold and unapologetic for what she perceived to be an unprovoked attack.

With a grimace she glanced through the table legs to scrutinize her surroundings further. It took her a moment, but she soon realized that the weaker feeling ones were kneeling at the feet of the older and stronger vampires. Sooo… Scrunching her face up in annoyance she affected a carefully blank face as she pulled herself upright and adjusted her skirt to cover more of her legs to sit at his feet with her own tucked beneath her butt. A hand rested on her head in silent approval and it took a lot to not lash out and bite him like she so dearly wanted to.

'_**Fiesty. I like that in you, Police Girl, but now is not the right time.'**_

"She learns quickly, for one so young. I commend you on your taste in beauty, Draculae." A voice spoke from her Master's other side and she leaned forward a bit to peer over his lap at the speaker. "Yes," another voice answered drolly, "It took my last fledgling five slaps and at least ten kicks before she stopped her blubbering and sat still." Seras could tell she wouldn't like the second speaker already. Then she blinked, wait, what? Draculae? As in … she wanted to slap herself then for not connecting the dots sooner. In her defense, she'd never read the bloody book.

Alucard chuckled and took a sip from his goblet, saying nothing.

Seras began to fidget uncomfortably, twiddling her thumbs and drawing patterns on her legs and twisting her skirt up between her fingers. God she was bored, and all the others at the table were talking about things that happened over a century ago. What was the point of her being there if she was just going to be ignored?

"Master?" She dared to ask, unable to keep still and silent any longer.

The hand she'd nearly forgotten atop her head shot down to the back of her neck to haul her up into his lap, the tight grip cut off her air supply and halted her yelp of protest before it could leave her lips. Stiff as a board she flinched when his hand neared her face, anticipating violence. Instead it merely covered her mouth like a gag as he stared down at her with wicked amusement, "Fledglings are to be seen and not heard, Police Girl. If you cannot accomplish such a simple feat, how will you ever get stronger?" He lectured, and she wanted to squirm. She was sitting side saddle across his legs so that anyone who looked could get an eyeful of exactly how well endowed the red coated male's blood servant was. "If you must occupy yourself, drink this." He continued, lifting his goblet up to her lips. She started to reach for it, but his free hand slapped hers away and she glared at him mulishly before parting her lips to allow him to pour a sip of bloodwine into her mouth. She felt ridiculous, being fed like an infant.

The conversation resumed around them and his free hand settled possessively across her hip as he continued to tip infinitesimal servings of the heady liquid betwixt her lips. Her gaze wandered curiously along the table's other occupants with the vantage of her higher position above the floor. There were quite a few female vampires, but she noticed an abundance of males with more than one fledgling or wife or whatever they were … harms perhaps. _Pigs._ Only those seated in chairs were actively speaking. _Elitists._

'_**Such harsh judgments for one so young.'**_ Her Master's voice teased, _**'Most of the creatures in this hall are past their first century, and raised in the old ways.'**_ He continued, apparently able to hold multiple conversations at once, what a neat trick.

'_**Master, why aren't there proper vampires in England?'**_

'_**There are, Police Girl, they're just smart enough to not feed indiscriminately like the FREAKS or the undisciplined fledglings.'**_

'…_**Oh.'**_

Mulling this new information over carefully in her mind, she pondered what her life as a vampire was going to be like in the days ahead. At Hellsing it had been more like her job as a police officer, although the monsters she took down were more literal. Here… she really had no ideas.

'_**You will soon enough, Seras.'**_ Her Master crooned even as he took away the goblet and drained the rest of its contents himself.

_How soon is soon, though?_ She grumbled to herself even as she felt her thoughts getting more hazy. Maybe she drank a bit too much… Resting her head woozily on her Sire's shoulder she closed her eyes for just a moment.

_(*_*) ^(*_*)^ (*_*)_


	9. Chapter 9

**What Could Have Been**

* * *

Seras woke to find herself curled up like a cat on her Master's lap with his hand running through her now unbound hair. The pair were seated – and she used the term loosely for herself – in an oversized arm chair at the edge of what looked to be a stage. Seras blinked blearily as colors flashed before her eyes; dancers were performing to music that had woken her. The women were very pretty with an almost olive complexion and almond shaped eyes above their face veils. They wore translucent clothing that reminded her of Princess Jasmine from Aladdin, and they danced with long sheer scarves attached to wrist bangles with bells at their ankles. This performance made her wonder where the hell they were. Last she remembered was a mention of Italy…

The lead female – at least Seras assumed that's who she was – sashayed her way forward to a pole near their end of the stage and abruptly took a running leap at the rod, swinging herself around it multiple times while her skirt wound itself tighter and tighter until she laid on the floor in what looked like an uncomfortable position with her legs tied upright by the twisted fabric. Then the green eyed woman winked at Seras amidst the round of polite applause and the blonde felt a flush creep up her cheeks at the suggestive gleam in those eyes. Her Master chuckled in her ear, sending shivers down her spine, and she fidgeted. The dancer went so far as to blow her a kiss before unwinding herself by crawling back up the pole in the reverse direction she'd spun down it and balancing elegantly atop the narrow point whilst another girl Seras hadn't noticed stood opposite her. They leapt at each other and Seras cringed, expecting an impact that never came. Instead they sailed just over and under each other to switch places, performing the same trick as before with the added impressiveness of it being from mid air. The new girl, a brunette with copper eyes lay on her back with her arms above her head, the hands dangling just shy of touching the pair in the chair. Seras scooched back closer to her Sire's chest when she saw that same perverse light glow in the female's eyes. Alucard put a possessive hand on her hip so casually that she barely noticed, half hypnotized by the swirls of red and gold in the woman's gaze.

The dancer winked and reached her hands out to squeeze the fledgling's generous breasts, but her wrists were caught the instant her fingertips grazed the material of the fledgling's dress by a snarling Master vampire. "I. Don't. Share!" With a jerk of his hands he tore the offending limbs from the suddenly terrified female in a shower of blood – that got **all** over Seras – and threw them to the floor in disgust. "Never touch what is mine." He growled, wrapping his arms back around his bloody fledgling as though nothing had happened.

Seras blinked. Then she blinked again.

The shell shock wore off moments later and she shrieked, struggling to free herself from her Master's lap. "What is **wrong** with you?! You don't tear someone's hands off for nothing!" She shouted at him in the sudden silence of the performance hall, pushing violently against his chest to lever herself away from him. _Oh god, she was covered in blood._

"Stop your struggling!" He snapped at her, baring his fangs in a show of displeasure, she shivered in fear but managed to get her legs up from under her to push against him for more leverage. He backhanded her and she crumpled to the floor with a cry, landing in the pool of blood surrounding the severed hands. "I will forgive your impudence because you are so young," he growled, standing and bending at the waist to fist her hair and drag her painfully to her feet, "But I will not be so lenient a second time, fledgling."

With those words he turned and dragged her from the room, and she saw the others watching them with mildly interested looks on their faces, as though this were an everyday occurrence. Yelping at a particularly harsh tug, fearing he would scalp her at this rate, she reached her hands up to wrap around his wrist in an attempt to lessen the pressure on her skull. "Master!"

"Silence, Police Girl." He shot back, storming through the hallways and scattering servants in his wake; she saw them cowering against the walls to keep out of his path. At last they arrived in a white tiled room and he threw her into a wall, she shrieked as the impact broke her ankle, twisting her foot around to a sickening angle. Curling in on herself pathetically, she cringed as she heard his boots tap the tile by her head, expecting another blow. Instead, a shower of cool water poured from the ceiling, washing the blood from her skin in trickles of pink. She peeked her eyes open cautiously to see him kneeling next to her, examining her mangled foot, while his clothes got progressively wetter and his hair clung to his face just like hers.

"So troublesome and fragile." He sighed, shaking his head as he reached out and quick as a flash, snapped her foot back into the proper alignment. She screamed and jerked herself backwards, hitting her head on the wall with a dull _thud_. Shivering and biting back the whimpers so hard her blood teeth sunk into her lower lip, she tucked her knees to her chest and buried her face between them, wrapping her arms protectively about herself like a child.

He grunted and she heard movement, thinking he might leave, rather hoping he would, actually. She felt raw and hyper sensitized to his presence just then; one minute he was normal, almost human, the next he was tearing someone's limbs off, or punishing her for some unintended slight, or, or, or… It was all too much. She longed for the quiet times when he mostly ignored her at Hellsing.

The curtain of water abruptly parted around her as he stood over her, and she almost looked up, but was determined to keep her defensive position in case of further assaults. Rather than harming her, however, she felt something cool drizzling over her scalp and his fingers began to massage the strands. A bit of foam drifted down her nose and she wriggled her, wiping the suds from her face with the back of her hand. _Why was he washing her hair?_

A glance at her arm answered her; the bubbles were tinted pink, he was getting the blood out before it dried. She blinked. Her Master and his mercurial moods…

Relaxing just slightly as he continued silently grooming her, she closed her eyes and let her head loll with the gentle ministrations, shivering pleasantly when the now warm water washed over her and swept the shampoo away. This continued for a few minutes until he deemed the filmy residue gone and blocked the falling droplets once more, and she smelled something vaguely fruity as she heard a _click_ of a new bottle opening. Lulled further by the floral aroma, she slumped against her knees and drifted into a haze of half awareness.

She stirred when the shower was turned off, and further when he hauled her up by the armpits to prop her on a seat. When he tore her soggy clothes off she shrieked and jerked back, only to fall into the large towel held open for just that reaction. She was bundled up swiftly and a flush crept from her cheeks to the tops of her breasts. "Master…" She mumbled, ducking her head in embarrassment.

She could **hear** the smirk in his voice as he scooped her up as though she weighed nothing at all, and purred in her ear, "Yes, Police Girl?"

Being so close to his chest she noticed his clothes were completely dry. _How the hell did he do that? _"Mmnn.." She mumbled, changing her mind about asking him why he was doing this.

"Because I can, fledgling. Being my servant is not all discipline and lessons." He answered her thoughts, carrying her down another series of hallways. "The life of a vampire is a glorious thing, Police Girl. You will learn to appreciate it." He murmured as they entered a room she recognized as the one she woke up in earlier that night.

He placed her on the bed and even went so far as to tuck her in with the covers hiked up to her chin, a rather wicked smirk twisting his lips.

"…Master?"

"Mm?" He hummed, brows arching.

"How long are we staying?" She glanced away from him, a queer feeling in her stomach. She didn't like this place much.

"We leave on the next train, Police Girl, this was merely an introduction to the old bloods social norm. As a member of my bloodline you will be expected to follow them. For now."

The last part sent a chill down her spine at the implications in his tone. What was he planning? Did she want to know?

"You will see soon enough, Police Girl. Now go to sleep."

Sleep? Sleep sounded glorious. Sleep was a reprieve from the insanity that her life had become these past few days… or weeks… or however long it's been.

"G'Night, Master." She mumbled into her pillow as she turned on her side, hugging the plush cushion to herself like a teddy bear.

She got no reply, and felt vaguely hurt by it for some absurd reason.

_Why should I even care?_

_I don't know anymore._

Blessed numbness swallowed her whole, giving her strained mind the rest it needed before it snapped.

* * *

_**AN:**_Now, doesn't that pretend to make up for bitchslapping her around? XD  
You've got to remember that these are the old courts, brutality is law. Survival of the fittest, and when you're someone's blood slave, you're their bitch until you're strong enough to fight back.  
(Also I'm mean to Seras. =x)


	10. Chapter 10

**What Could Have Been**

* * *

Seras Victoria drowsily thought she heard a _'clickity clack' _sort of sound, and her bed seemed to vibrate in time with the noise. The word 'déjà vu' came to mind and her features scrunched up in distaste. _Again?_ Lifting her arm up to cover her face with her hand, she groaned and peeked through the cracks between her fingers to examine the room. It was… empty.

Frowning, she levered herself up on her elbow to look more carefully. But her initial thought was correct; she was alone in the cabin, and definitely on a train. Where was her Master?

Unable to return to sleep, and quickly growing bored of waiting for his return she rolled herself off the cushioned bench-bed and spotted a pair of ankle boots in her size near the door. She put them on, having no desire to get her white socks dirty, and peered out the door down both ends of the hallway. Nothing.

Shrugging, she decided to explore and see if she could find the wayward man. She decided to treat it as a game; in each new car she would guess how many people were there and if she would find her Sire among them or not.

She was wrong more often than she was right, especially about her Master's position, when she reached the rear of the train she frowned, puzzled, but turned and backtracked to make it all the way to the front. She knew he was there… somewhere, she could _feel_ it. Tugging a strand of hair in thought, she wandered back to the room, unaware of the curious stares she received as she passed through the dining car in her daze. She noticed then that the window in her cabin was open. Brows arching into her hair with disbelief, she leaned out the window, careful not to overbalance and fall, and looked up.

_The moon was beautiful tonight._ Looming huge in the sky, glowing softly and illuminating the countryside as they passed in a rumble of churning wheels. Something was telling her she was right in her theory, so she carefully scooted out the window to find a fairly easy hand hold next to her to clamber her way up the side and onto the corrugated roof. The texture allowed her boots to stick easier despite the winds attempting to fling her into space like a ragdoll. There, near the front of the train, stood her Master gazing up at the moon with his hair flying longer than she'd ever remembered seeing it and his coat tails flapping.

Cautiously she worked her way closer to her Sire. While it was true she really didn't know **what** to feel for the monster that took away her humanity, he was the closest thing to family she had left in this moonlit world of shadows and blood, so while he terrified her at times, she still had the urge to stay close to him. To be at his side. She wondered if that was her talking, or the inhuman reflection of herself lurking in the back of her mind… waiting to leap out of the looking glass and take her place in the driver's seat at a moment's notice.

After what seemed like an hour, though it surely couldn't have been more than five minutes, she made it to his side; her slight frame acting as a feeble buffer from the untamed winds as they tore at clothing and hair like greedy urchins looking for a spare penny. A shiver worked its way down her spine and through her limbs, for though she was a creature of the night and less vulnerable to temperatures as humans, she was still a young and relatively weak fledgling for not drinking her blood very often. Something warm and soft curled around her shoulders and she blinked, canting her head to the side curiously as she realized what shielded her from the chill was her Master's hair. How odd.

"Vampires, Police Girl, are quite unlike any other creature known to this world; most of the stories surrounding our weaknesses are false, of course." He smirked down at her with a flash of moonlight on his fangs, smugness glowing in his eyes, even veiled as they were by his amber lenses. "Just as not all the myths of our powers are true. Blood is a key factor, fledgling; the more powerful the Sire the more resilient the Childe, but that does not mean that one cannot surpass their bloodline." He continued in a firm scholarly tone, "You'd be surprised, Police Girl, where determination will get you when you walk the path of shadows willingly. Just as humans evolve, so too do vampires as the lines spread and separate. Dilution leads to interesting side effects." He hummed the last part with a strange look on his face as she gazed up at his profile silhouetted by the moon, "Not all vampires can create ghouls, the majority cannot stand even the hint of sunlight, the garlic is a fool's tale, but the strong odor can be a repellent to the sensitive. There are so many verities in nosferatu, now, little Seras, that the old bloods are a disappearing breed." He sounded truly disheartened by that last bit of news, and she inched closer to him as though to comfort him.

"Enough of this talk, I told you before a war is coming, and as you are you won't survive the first battle. You must learn to unlock your new senses without relying on your instincts and losing yourself. Your first test will be speed." His hand clamped around her shoulder and she felt goosebumps rippling down her arms in trepidation. "Experience is the best teacher, Police Girl. If you cannot catch up within the hour I will be unhappy." He bared his teeth in a macabre smile and hefted her in the air to fling her over the side of the train. She shrieked and instinctively curled herself in a ball as she felt gravity take hold and drag her to the ground at a sickening speed.

**CRUNCH!**

_Ow._ Breaking a tree in half with the impact of her landing _really fucking hurt._ "Damnit, Master!" She cursed as she realized the train was already far out of reach. "Experience is the best teacher." She mocked and huffed, pushing her disheveled bangs from her face and leaning against an unbroken tree to regain her bearings.

'_**Tick tock, Police Girl.'**_

"Yeah yeah…"

Grimacing at the mental reminder, she pushed off from the sturdy trunk and began jogging. _How am I supposed to catch up with a train of all things?_ Picking up speed as she realized there was no stitch in her side to slow her down – she was never really the best runner – she made it to the train tracks and squinted into the distance. There, she saw it still, just barely. "Great, just bloody marvelous."

So she started running, and running, and running. She found after about twenty minutes that she wasn't getting tired, and her breath came easily as though she were merely walking. But she still wasn't fast enough.

Just then she heard a horn blasting behind her and she glanced over her shoulder in shock to see a new train barreling up behind her at high speeds. Eyes widening, she glanced to her sides frantically and realized she was on a bridge with no room to get out of the way. God damnit! Faster, she needed to go faster!

The horn sounded again and she could feel it in her bones as the track began to vibrate. Oh god, oh god, oh god… The screeching brakes told her the conductor saw her, but she knew that unless she found the speed her Master told her she possessed, she'd be hit and either crushed or thrown off the bridge into the fast moving river below. Vampires and flowing water did not mix very well.

"MASTER!" She screamed as her feet pounded the wooden boards, and the horn blared so loud she felt deafened by it. Oh god, oh god, oh god..!

And then, something just… _clicked_ and she was at the other side of the bridge and sprinting desperately ahead, her surroundings a blur as she hot footed it back to the passenger train and her Sire. She could feel his smugness through their connection, and cursed him blackly even as she reveled in her new speed. It took her less than a minute to catch up, and run alongside the train as easily as if she were skipping. She stared at the windows carefully, looking for signs of their shared cabin and found it after a moment as she gazed into the uncovered eyes of the dark haired man she was bound to. Leaping up to grab the sill she squeaked as the world suddenly reasserted itself and the wind nearly flung her back into space, but warm and firm hands grasped her wrists and hauled her inside where she was treated to a round of condescending laughter at her expense.

"It's not funny!" She growled and crossed her arms over her chest in a huff. Her Master was such an ass.

"Of course it is," he teased as he sat opposite her and stretched out his long legs in an indolent sprawl. "Do you know how you did it, Police Girl, or do I have to toss you back out the window?"

In answer she seemed to blur, hardly move at all, but then quite suddenly she had his favored red fedora atop her golden haired head and a smug look on her flushed face.

He favored her with one of his shark grins and crossed his feet at the ankles as he settled himself back into the padded bench with hands clasped over his waist. "Very good, Seras."

The use of her name sent a thrill through her, and she beamed at the praise.

"It is but the first step of many, fledgling, but you did well."

"Thank you, Master." She murmured, then recalled his teaching method and scrunched her face in disgust, "But never do that again."

"No promises." He laughed and crooked his finger in a come hither gesture that floated the hat back atop his head. The brim tilted low over his face and for all intents and purposes he appeared to be asleep. Huffing a bit, Seras flopped over gracelessly across the bench to stare at the ceiling until her eyelids felt heavy and she yawned.

'_Maybe being a vampire won't be so bad…'_ She thought drowsily, if she chose her prey carefully and allowed herself to grow more powerful, maybe… A yawn cracked her jaw and she settled more deeply into the padding, maybe she could be like her Master be a monster to protect England from the other monsters, only she'd do it of her free will. _Maybe…_


	11. Chapter 11

**What Could Have Been**

* * *

"We'll be travelling on foot from here." Her Master spoke as they disembarked the train into the lingering rays of the setting sun. Seras squinted and shifted a bit, tucking herself more into the tall man's shadow. It didn't hurt, exactly, but it made her feel uncomfortably hot and tingly along her skin. "Where are we going, Master?" She asked, following in his footsteps as he strode over to a pair of workers and spoke to them in some unknown but pretty language. The men nodded and walked to the cargo section of the train presumably where he kept their coffins – though she hadn't seen his once the entire journey – and she assumed a trunk of clothes or something along those lines. Where else did her clothes come from..? Unless her Master changed them like he did his own. The thought creeped her out a bit and she shivered, folding her arms across her abdomen and cupping her hands around her elbows.

He was ignoring her. Frowning and glaring at his back she muttered under her breath and followed him grudgingly, doing her best to ignore the odd looks they got from passersby. She had to admit they looked odd; a six foot something man wearing a flamboyant red trench coat and a charcoal suit with knee high black riding boots and an elaborately done cravat with a matching fedora and yellow tinted goggle sided glasses with a five foot something female dwarfed by his shadow in a blue and black pseudo corset top, elbow length lace up gloves, and a ruffled blue skirt that teased the tops of her knees with black ankle boots… Who wouldn't stare? They looked like they escaped from the Victorian Era, and Seras was embarrassed with all the men staring at her like a piece of meat. "What country is this?" She tried again as she kept just behind him to let his much more intimidating figure part the crowds like the red sea and leave her free to concentrate on her attempts to get him to answer at least **one** of her damned questions.

"One that still follows the old ways." He half turned his head to smirk at her knowingly, a mocking light in his eyes behind those amber lenses.

Apparently he was going to be difficult. The ass.

They walked for a while through a quaint city, and Seras couldn't let her futile grudge about his refusal to divulge their location prevent her from enjoying the sights. The smells wafting through the street lined with shops made her wish she could still eat real food, and her steps slowed as she caught a glimpse of fluttering fabric out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head curiously and admired the pretty dresses, her expression lighting up with childish glee as she spotted the rows of necklaces, one in particular stood out; a blue satin ribbon with a delicately carved and detailed silver dragon pendant stitched to the front. The onyx chips for its eyes drew her unknowingly closer – she'd always loved dragons, and had a whole collection of them as a child before her parents… Banishing that thought swiftly she realized that she was no longer on the path between the stalls, instead she was only a few feet away from the rows of neck-and-shoulder mannequins displaying their wares in the lingering rays of the sun's bloody death upon the horizon. A hand clamped over her bare shoulder and she jumped, bristling a bit at the low tones of her Sire's laughter at her expense. "See something you like, Police Girl?"

Unable to help herself, her gaze drifted back to the dragon tethered to the blue ribbon, as though trapped eternally in the skies and she heard him hum in interest as he followed her line of sight. The shop keeper approached them then and Seras was lost in the sea of words she didn't understand, but the happy look on the woman's face as she turned towards the line of jewelry was all the information she needed. Her Master was buying it for her. A pleased flush lit her cheeks as the pleasantly plump female returned with the necklace resting on black velvet in an open box. Alucard spoke with her again and the female nodded, popping open the simple clasp at the back and motioning Seras forward to help her put it on. The satin slithered over her flesh and she shivered at the coolness, the ribbon choker fit perfectly with the pendant resting in the hollow of her throat.

"Fit for a Draculina." She heard him murmur and when she turned to look he had a strange look on his face that unnerved her slightly. The shop keeper bobbed her head at the pair as she turned away and Seras blinked, wondering when she'd been paid.

"Come, Police Girl, the night has only just begun."

Lifting a hand to her neck to stroke the pendant absently, she nodded and followed after him, behind him and slightly to his right. "Yes, Sir."

…

Seras leaned against a tree, feeling faintly ill from the overwhelming scents of the forest and the hunger roaring silently in her ears. "I feel sick." She moaned, clenching her eyes shut and curling her fingers in the fabric of her skirt. They'd walked to the edge of the town and entered the woods, and from then 'til now they'd been running through the trees in a blur of vampiric speed. She'd enjoyed it at first, making a game of 'dodge the trunk', but it quickly grew monotonous and the thrill of being in such old forest land unaltered by modern creations dwindled into boredom. Boredom and blood lust.

Her Master sighed impatiently as she heard his heavy boots crunch through the dead leaves around her. "We'll be there, shortly, Police Girl."

"Where?" She asked petulantly, crossing her arms mulishly across her chest and glaring at the grass beneath his feet. Yes she was ecstatic over the gift, but that didn't cancel out all her frustration with him and his high handed ways.

"You'll see when we get there, fledgling."

"I'm hungry…" She mumbled, looking away from him entirely.

"You wouldn't be if you drank the blood." He said coldly.

"I know." She mumbled, tipping her head down so that her bangs shrouded her face. He was reminding her of the man he'd grabbed from a dark alleyway and thrown at her feet a few days ago between trains, after their brief stay at the vampire castle, telling her the man was a convict. She'd stared into those terrified eyes and felt sick, surely he couldn't have done something so bad to warrant death at her teeth? Despite the growing tightness it her stomach demanding she take the offering and drink her fill, she just _couldn't_. And being of Alucard's bloodline unfortunately meant that her bite would transform him into a ghoul regardless of how much blood he had left. Her Master had looked disgusted with her weakness and refused to allow her to obtain his blood through other means. "If you cannot stand by your convictions, Police Girl, then you won't drink." He'd growled, letting the man free to live another day.

"I didn't want to kill him." She'd protested, feeling sick at heart from disappointing her Sire again.

"You're a vampire, it's what we do. Survival of the fittest, Police Girl, where the strong trample upon the weak _because they can_. You'll have to learn to accept that feeding yourself means taking the lives of others, this is one thing that cannot change."

"But the medical bl-" "Was arranged by Hellsing. Where we are going the old laws still rule, and the closest you'll come to what the humans provided is bloodwine. So long as you remain my fledgling you will follow my rules, Police Girl."

"Well maybe I don't want to _be_ your fledgling anymore." She'd muttered to herself but he'd heard her of course and she'd flinched when she saw his hand raise. His black laughter sent chills down her spine. "Perhaps not, my little Draculina. But I will not unleash you upon the world as you are, you would not survive a day. Remember that it was your choice, Police Girl." His last words were taunting her, and she dearly wanted her gun to blast him in the face like she'd seen Sir Integra do when he'd antagonized her, or even to try that trick with his own guns, but she knew she'd never be fast enough to pull it off a second time.

So lost in her memories of that night was she that the feeling of his fingers under her chin made her jump, and her back scraped against the rough bark of the tree. He tilted her head up to face him and she saw so many different emotions in those citrine orbs she was close to drowning in them. "Will it get easier?" She whispered, knowing he knew she meant the life of eternity unless killed, drinking blood, amd walking in shadows.

"Perhaps. It all depends on you, Police Girl." He answered calmly, releasing her and turning to walk at a sedate human pace towards where she felt the moon's light even through the trees.

The blonde sighed, feeling far older than her nineteen years as she pushed off the tree to follow her Master when she saw a flicker of something out of the corner of her eye. She turned just in time to raise her right arm instinctively, an enormous slathering black wolf with glowing red eyes lunged for her throat and bit savagely into the tender flesh of her forearm. She screamed, and the impact of the heavy body shoved her to the ground beneath those massive paws. Rolling desperately, the relentless pressure of those powerful jaws took the creature with her as she tried to maneuver herself away from those deadly claws swinging for her unprotected underbelly. She kicked and heard something snap, and a second swing of her bloodied leg pushed against the wolf's ribs at enough of an angle that the teeth were ripped back through her skin in a shower of blood. The wolf hit the tree she'd been resting against with a yelp and Seras scrambled to her feet with her mangled arm held protectively to her chest. Surely the thing was dead, right? Panting and dripping blood, she swayed on her feet dizzily as she glanced over her shoulder for her Master. That was her mistake; the instant she looked away the wolf lunged again and pinned her to the dirt with its bloody fangs poised over her throat.

The familiar click of a pistol was like music to her ears, and the resounding _boom_ of the oversized and overpowered weapon being fired told her all would be well. Blood splattered on her face as the bullet pierced the wolf's right foreleg, another one following to take out the hind sending it off balance and away from the fledgling. Seras looked up to see an upside down version of Alucard with a sick grin on his face as he levered the Cassul at the crippled beast's head. She saw his finger beginning to squeeze for the final shot when a white blur launched itself from the trees and slammed into the red coated male, throwing him to the dirt, and sending the blessed silver bullet wild; embedded in a tree rather than the red eyed wolf's brain.

"Master!" Seras exclaimed, staggering back to her feet in the blood soaked mud, eyes widening in shock as her dazed brain finally understood what the creature attacking her creator was. "My God…" She breathed, staring at the white raptor situated on Alucard's chest with his arm captured in those dangerous jaws.

* * *

_**AN:**_I'm spoiling it now that the raptor is a transformed cameopire. DRAGOREX's cameopire, actually. Just to get that out of the way. :P


	12. Chapter 12

**What Could Have Been**

* * *

Alucard laughed, and rather than drawing the Jackal as she expected – she'd been surprised when Walter had given it to him for seemingly no other reason than since she got a new toy, so to speak, her Sire did as well – he did the same trick Seras had used on the wolf by rolling and taking the lizard with him, slamming it into the ground and ripping his arm free in a splatter of blood.

"I could use a warm up fight. Come on, hit me with your best shot!" He taunted, opening his arms wide for the raptor's next attack.

Seras noticed then as the great beast got back to its feet that it was taller than her Master, she guestimated something like eight feet, not counting the tail, and she was surprised to see it had feathers. _That's different from the velociraptors in Jurassic Park._ She thought lamely.

The dinosaur – _holy fuck, a dinosaur! How is there a dinosaur in… wherever they were?!_ – apparently understood Alucard as it took half a step back and then lowered its head to hiss at him, the longer black tipped feathers on its tail fanning out like the ones attached to the backs of its arms to make the already enormous creature appear even larger. It swayed slightly from side to side in a move she recognized from the movies, and watched in horror as it leapt in the air with those enormous hind claws raised to strike and mouth open.

Perhaps her Master's greatest… weakness seemed the wrong word, fallacy, Achilles heel even? Whatever the case, he tended to just stand still and let his enemies rip him to pieces, literally, only to regenerate at the last second when they think they've won to demoralize them and take them out with a single shot. She'd seen it over and over, and the first time, in Cheddar, she was thoroughly disturbed by it. For the first time, however, she saw him actually move away from an incoming attack to punch the raptor in the jaw, even as the massive claws on its hind feet sliced up his chest in a spray of blood. The instant the giant lizard landed on its feet it swung its tail through the air to aid in its about face, and faster than she thought possible it was back in the air, aiming for Alucard's back.

Despite all the assurances of his invulnerability, the massive scope of his regenerative abilities, she still feared for his safety. "Master!" She shouted, stumbling a half step towards the skirmish. The world spun sickeningly and her legs crumpled out from under her as the blood loss combined with her subpar eating habits led to her body shutting down on her. The ground flew up to meet her and her last thought whispered pitifully in the yawning emptiness swallowing her consciousness whole; _don't leave me._

…

She felt as though she were floating, and the world swayed rhythmically from side to side. Warmth suffused her right side and she felt very secure in this pleasant hazy world. After a moment her ears allowed sound to trickle through to her half conscious brain in the form of muffled voices. This… was very familiar.

"…logize, Drake, Cera has boundary issues. She was abandoned in my woods to die of exposure, and I've been looking after her since."

"The fact remains that she attacked my fledgling. You must teach her to recognize power, Darkconda, and know when to back down." The answering words rumbled like thunder in her ears and she scrunched up her face in distaste. Shaking her head mildly, she cracked an eye open to stare at the underside of her Sire's jaw. Oh, he was carrying her again. But who… Craning her head back against the support of Alucard's bicep, she caught sight of a tanned male with mussed black hair and a trim beard carrying an unconscious brunette female with what looked suspiciously like bullet holes in her right arm and leg. The breeze changed and brought the scents of the pair to the dazed fledgling, and she blinked in rapid succession as she realized she recognized them as the wolf and the raptor that had attacked them… And now the male – Darkconda – was chatting it up with her Sire as though they were friends.

"I wouldn't go that far, Police Girl, but we are not enemies." Alucard murmured in answer to her thoughts and she turned her gaze back to his face curiously. She still felt incredibly tired, and her arm still throbbed painfully. When she glanced down at herself she grimaced; she was covered in dried blood and the pretty outfit that complimented her Master's was ruined. Her eyes widened as a thought struck her and she hurriedly lifted her uninjured arm to carefully run her fingers along the ribbon necklace, thankfully finding it intact and free of any crunchy spots denoting spatters of dry gore. Relief and fatigue tugged at her senses and she yawned, head bobbing in time with her Sire's footsteps. He chuckled and shifted his grip to settle her more deeply into the cradle of his arms, "Go back to sleep, fledgling, I'll wake you when we get there."

She nodded sleepily, too drowsy to argue, and half turned to rest her cheek against his chest once more, noting distantly that there wasn't a single drop of blood on him, though she saw him get torn up earlier. Must… be… a neat… trick…

…

"Seras, wake up. We're home."

She stirred and squinched her eyes shut tighter, voicing a half moan of protest. "Come now, Police Girl, wake up. Wake u-"

…

Something cool and round touched her lips, and the smell of blood mixed with the tang of something vaguely alcoholic filtered into her nose. Instinctively she parted her lips and allowed the viscous liquid to be poured into her mouth, swallowing when she felt as though it might overflow. Clarity began to return to her thoughts upon the third swallow and she cracked her eyes open to see a wine glass held by a masculine hand, still half full of a deep red liquid.

"It's not as potent as blood fresh from the vein, but it will do for now, Police Girl." The familiar rumble of her Master's voice caressed her ears as he tipped another mouthful down her throat. When the cup was empty she felt better, albeit a bit fuzzy around the edges from the alcohol. A flush crept up her cheeks when she realized she was situated upon his lap, and wondered what it was about her being unconscious that made him want to treat her like a lapdog. He grinned at her in a show of fang and the flush brightened, and she turned her gaze away from him to take in her surroundings; it looked like a grand foyer in an old but well maintained castle, the massive stone blocks fitted neatly together, showing very little wear from the sands of time. A long gold edged maroon carpet split the room in half, leading up to the dais she and her Master occupied, matched by a grand looking banner bearing an unfamiliar coat of arms. She noticed that the only windows were high up in the wall, no direct sunlight could touch the inhabitants of this hall. "Where are we?"

"Home, Police Girl. My home that is. Welcome to Castle Draculae. We'll be staying here for a time." He murmured in her ear and she shifted uncomfortably at the continued close contact. An evil gleam lit his copper gaze and his lips twisted in a cruel mockery of a smile as the arm behind her back abruptly vanished and she overbalanced with a shriek, tumbling top over tea kettle down the short series of steps to sprawl gracelessly across the carpeted stone floor even lower than his feet. "Owww…"

His mocking laughter echoed through the cavernous hall and she glared up at him sullenly before rolling to her feet – with only the slightest of stumbles – to start stalking away from him, muttering obscenities under her breath.

"Where are you going, Police Girl?" He called after her, sounding terribly amused.

"Away from you, Sir." She answered, adding a thick edge of sarcasm to the last word.

She could _hear_ the smirk in his voice at his parting shot; "Take a right and go down the steps." He'd just answered her unasked question of how the hell to get out of the castle. Ugh! Grudgingly following his directions she made her way to a lesser used exit – no where near as grand as the main door, but that suited her just fine – and quietly admired the mountain scenery surrounding the grand looking castle. With a sigh, she wandered over to the edge of the flattened plain and looked down, jerking back in surprise when she saw the yawning gap of a drop below to a grassy field. Shivering in distaste – she was never very fond of heights – she backed up and bumped into something. Something that wasn't the castle wall, and didn't feel like her Master.

Jerking around in surprise she stared up into the grinning face of a caramel skinned man with a mustache wearing a brown business suit. His grin widened and she caught the gleam of light off his fangs as he reached for his hat and performed a half bow, revealing his close cropped black hair, "Beunas noches, senorita, my name is Tubalcain Alhambra, and I have some business with your Master. Be a good girl and fetch him for me, would you?"

* * *

_**AN:**_And we introduce the first part of the plot!  
I'd just like to note that the use of Draculae and any castle description is inspired by Anonymous Psychofan's **Son of the Dragon**. I really like that fic. And it's the closest I tend to come to anything vaguely historically based. So there's my excuse for possibly confusing y'all. :P


	13. Chapter 13

**What Could Have Been**

**AN: **I felt bad that I haven't updated, even though this was written days ago. So here's a chapter while I work on 16, and I already have an idea for 17. So once I actually get it done, next updates'll be faster. Also? New TSS chapter is in the works.

* * *

Seras felt the small hairs on the back of her neck prickle in alarm as the breeze shifted and she caught the man's scent. It was… somehow foul, tainted, it reminded her of… Eyes widening in realization, she leaped back as he settled the fedora back atop his head and pulled a card from his sleeve. Staring at him warily, his expression twisted into something cruel and his wrist flicked in her direction; the card shooting at her and as she jumped instinctively it sliced into the side of her ankle. Crying out in pain, Seras stumbled and nearly fell, her bare fingers and toes digging into the grass to keep herself upright. Lunging for the door she'd exited from, another card whizzed by her face and cut her cheek, telling her quite clearly that he was simply playing with her. "Master!" She yelped as she scrambled through the door, another card embedded in the stone opposite her. Leaning on the paltry barrier, she felt the world begin to spin sickeningly again as the wine muddled her senses and blood trickled down her cheek and foot.

And quite suddenly he was _there_, a strange look on his face as he loomed over her like a great black shadow. She blinked and reached for him, unable to fully focus on his face as he pulled her securely to his chest and patted her head gently. After a moment of this he settled her back against the wood and phased through the door with a ripple of his powers. Turning her head to press her ear to the barrier, she listened carefully.

"It's not polite to touch others possessions." The welcome baritone of Alucard's voice carried easily through the air.

"Ah, but I thought perhaps it would spur our meeting, Senor Alucard. I've been waiting so very long for your return, I thought you would have been here days ago." The thick Spanish accent made some of the words hard to make out, but Seras persevered, intent on not being left out of the loop.

"I see." Her Sire's voice dripped coldness, and she shivered though it was not directed at her.

"No, I don't think you do, Senor Alucard. You see, I've been given the task of taking you in. Well, at least a sample of you anyways." She heard amusement oozing through his words and a strange whistling woosh before multiple cards sliced through the door where her Master had been standing, cutting a hole in the wood. Seras squeaked and peeked cautiously through the impromptu window to see her Master sneering at the suited man, "I don't appreciate you harming what is mine."

Alucard rushed towards the man – Alhambra, she remembered – and Seras was surprised to see him matching her Sire's pace, keeping just out of reach of his fearsome strength. Just as Alhambra drew a new pair of cards from his sleeve her Master pulled the Cassul from his jacket and fired at him. Blood blossomed for an instant before he vanished in a swirl of purple cards.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Senor Alucard, as I told your pretty little fledgling, my name is Tubalcain Alhambra, though some people have taken to calling me the Dandy Man. And now I'm afraid I have to say goodbye, for you have activated my trap card." He laughed as an explosion went off beneath her Master's feet, sending the startled vampire to the ground where two rings of cards encircled him and exploded.

"Master!" Seras shrieked, pushing the door partway open to stumble out towards the injured man.

"Stay where you are, Seras!" Alucard snarled at her as he got to his hands and knees, blood positively pouring from his chest. The blonde flinched and reeled backwards as she saw movement coming towards her. She landed gracelessly on her bum with a razor edged card protruding from the wall where her head had been moments prior.

"You heard your master, senorita, stay out of it like a good little girl." The Dandy Man taunted, and she glared at his back, curling her lip back from her blood teeth in a show of anger. If she didn't feel like she was about to throw up any second, she'd show that…

Still bleeding, her Master got to his feet and grinned so viciously that Seras inched back towards the tentative safety of the castle. She recognized that look. As if on cue with her thoughts, shadows massed around her Master's feet and spread outward, gaining mass and thickening into three demonic hounds with too many red eyes. She shuddered and looked away, scrabbling backwards to shut herself back behind the half door and watch from over the edge of the hole rather than out in the open.

The Dandy Man looked vaguely surprised, but he kept his cool and flung the cards at the demonic beasts, the pieces of waxed paper exploding on contact. Bloody mist filled the air like thick soup and Seras saw looming shadows in the red fog aiming for the intruder. He did as well for he lashed out blindly, meeting nothing but air. She heard panting and snarling and watched the shadows dance through the unnatural cloud before she heard a blood curdling scream and a series of sickening crunches she recognized as breaking bone. Wincing in partial sympathy, she squinted as the wind finally shifted and blew the mist away to reveal her Master dressed in a skin tight black body suit with buckles lining his arms, legs, and chest holding the Dandy Man by the face. "Dandy Man?" He purred, and the other whimpered, "You lost. And now I'm going to read your mind, by drinking all of your blood." He mocked, opening his mouth wide to reveal every tooth sharp and ready to puncture helpless flesh. Sickeningly, the thought of _'om nom nom'_ raced through her head as she watched him tear into the one armed man's throat in a spray of blood. Moments later, blue flames erupted from the vampire's body and engulfed her Sire. "Master!" She called again, horrified by the sight.

He began to laugh and clap his hands together as the flames dissipated and the ash floated away across the mountains. "So I see I was right. It won't be long now, Major."

"Master..?" She questioned, wondering who he was talking to.

"It's nothing, Police Girl, I will tell you when you are stronger. Come, we should hunt." He commanded, glancing down at himself with an odd, almost nostalgic look on his face before the leather outfit rippled and stretched, seeming to absorb the spilt blood upon the grass to resume its state as her Master's favored red trench coat and charcoal suit.

Weakness tugged at her, and she looked away, "Yes, Master."


	14. Chapter 14

**What Could Have Been**

_I'm still a bit blocked on ch16... but I'm also slowly working on a few other things until my muse decides to pony up and let me finish this story._

* * *

It only took them a day to begin trickling through the gates, and Seras watched from the tower room she'd claimed for herself last night, fascinated. They came by twos and threes, never a single vampire that she could see, and they all wore fabulously styled gowns and suits, as though they were rampant participants of the Renaissance faires she'd heard of being so popular now a days. The blonde leaned on her balcony railing and stared unashamedly. Moonlight cast a gentle glow upon the copper roofs, but painted stark, menacing shadows across the gargoyles baring their fangs so proudly on the parapets; Seras admired them at the same time she disliked them, half thinking they might come to life and chase her off for being an interloper. She didn't belong to this old world, and felt increasingly smothered by the restrictions they placed upon her.

"Fledglings are to be seen and not heard." She mocked, shaking her head in disgust.

"That's right, Police Girl, and yet, knowing this, you are suspiciously lacking in your duties." A deep male voice rumbled from behind, and she jumped, straightening in an instant to turn and face the looming form of her Master, the No Life King; Vlad Tepes, Dracula, Alucard, so many names for one person. Seras heaved a sigh and rolled her eyes as she trotted obediently over to the man, taking the proffered arm and stepping closer to his side, closing her eyes tightly in an attempt to stave off the disorientation of phasing through the floors and walls to arrive in the grand hall she'd been fed the bloodwine yesterday. While her Master took the throne like seat upon the dais she fidgeted and after a quick glance in his direction settled into a kneeling position at his feet; her new dress reminding her of the one she'd worm when first introduced to the vampire courts and their brutal laws. As soon as she got settled, the double doors swung open by unseen means and the gathered midians began crowding forward eagerly. "My Lord, you've returned!" "It's good to see you again Mi'Lord." "Look, is that his fledgling?" The last one got her brows to twitch upward as she caught the English words amongst the other languages filling the room, and after flicking another glance at her Sire from under her lashes, she did her best to smooth her face into a neutral expression without appearing too terribly bored. She thought she saw a few familiar faces; the unnamed pirate garbed woman from Paris, Nekette (she cringed a bit, wondering what the mad woman was doing here), and for just a moment she thought she saw the man… what was his name..? Dar something, but when she blinked he was gone and she wondered if he was ever there to begin with. Once the throng of people – _vampires_ she corrected herself – settled in a seemingly organized group, certain individuals approached via the blood colored carpet to bow humbly or courtesy and murmur words she didn't understand to Alucard, who had a bland, almost pleased look on his face as he watched the genteel folk approach.

Out of the corner of her eye Seras swore she saw movement, so she straightened subtly and turned her head minutely to track the unnatural darkness within the darkness until it disappeared behind them and quite suddenly Nekette oozed into view from behind Alucard's throne, a manic grin twisting her visage into something savage and almost frightening. "Oh, the pretty king is back in his castle." She cooed, being so bold as to grab his hand where it rested on the arm rest and nuzzle it to her cheek, "So greedy, yet so generous. Is it **time**? Oh it's been so long…" The silver haired madwoman was practically crawling into her Sire's lap with her fawning, and his amused smirk brought an unpleasant taste to Seras' mouth. A man strode forward from the crowd then, tall, almost as tall as her Master with vibrant purple eyes and a wild tangle of hair with heavily stubbled cheeks and jaw, and a stern look upon his handsome face. Quick as a flash he had one of his large hands fisted in Nekette's silver hair, wrenching her back away and hoisting her partially off the floor to stare at her stonily, "That's enough." To Seras' surprise she noticed the tall purple eyed man felt quite a bit weaker than the vampiress he held by the hair, but the female gazed up at him with such adoring submission… "If you say so." Nekette purred, hanging limp and docile in his grasp as he tipped his head in their direction and stalked off with great thundering steps of his boots into the gathering where he disappeared.

"Who was that man, Master?" Seras glanced up at her Sire inquisitively, blinking a few times as a less attention-drawing version of shaking her head to clear her thoughts. He tipped his head and peered down at her from the corner of his eyes, a queer smile tugging his lips, "That was no man, Police Girl, he's a werewolf." At her blank expression he laughed, "Yes, a vampire and a werewolf, and I suppose you could consider them a couple."

She still wasn't sure she understood that, but shrugged it off to think over later. At her renewed silence, the procession resumed their path to the throne to offer their pretty words of varying tongues to her Sire.

At last when it seemed as though everyone had approached and said their peace, Alucard waved his hand in a grandiose gesture and music started from some unseen source and the gathered nosferatu began to dance.

"May I offer you a drink, Vlad?" A female cooed, a bloodwine glass held delicately in her pale hand, as she stood at the bottom of the steps with a coquettish smile curling her painted lips. Seras already didn't like her. Her Master smirked and the brunette approached gracefully with a rustle of her skirts, the tight coils of her curly hair brushing across her bared shoulders, and she stood to his left, opposite Seras while extending the glass to his lips as though to feed him herself.

That sour taste returned to the fledgling's mouth as he accepted the offering and yanked the female into his lap, "A good year." The cup was empty and Seras dearly wished he'd either let her leave or get rid of the sycophant. Instead, almost as if to spite her, he leaned in close to the female's neck and breathed across her skin, hovering there with his mouth opened and fangs threatening to pierce the porcelain white skin. The nameless harlot shivered and moaned, a cloying tang filling the air that curled Seras' nose. It was only when he looked at her outright that she realized she'd been emitting a low threatening growl in the back of her throat, and his eyebrows arched in wicked amusement. "Jealous, Police Girl?" He murmured, pushing the female from his lap backwards so that she tumbled down the steps, and grabbing his fledgling to pull her flush to his chest while striking quick as a cobra, embedding his blood teeth in her neck.

Seras cried out in a mixture of shock, pain, and moments later, an unfettered pleasure. Shivering and twitching, she went limp in his arms, head lolling quiescently to the side to allow his access to her sensitive flesh. Vaguely though glazed eyes she noted the unseated harlot glaring at her sullenly before straightening her skirts and departing with as much grace as she could manage, but the fledgling found she no longer cared.

"Master…" She mewled, hands fluttering and plucking at the fabric of his jacket of the arm wrapped around her waist. The room seemed to fade out of existence, leaving them the only creatures left in the world; all she could feel was her blood being drawn into his mouth, all she could hear was the spine tingling whisper of his swallowing her life source, everything about her revolved around him just then. "Master." She whimpered, feeling a touch of coldness creeping up her limbs. This was the first time he'd fed on her since that night in Cheddar, and she'd been more dead than alive at that point and hardly felt a thing. This… scared her a little.

'_**Shh…'**_ He whispered into her mind, soothing her as he pulled back and ran his tongue across the puncture marks – the same spot he'd bitten her when she was still human – and supported her trembling frame when it attempted to collapse. _**'I feel kinda funny…'**_ Seras mumbled lethargically, unable to speak as her lashes fluttered shut achingly slowly, disconnecting her from the world even as it began to reemerge from the shadows that had shrouded it moments prior.

"My eternal little winepress." He rumbled, pleased, in her ear as he adjusted her to lay more comfortably across his lap. Vaguely she wondered what the others would think, then questioned why she cared when she was secure in her Sire's grip. Just before she drifted into a numbness akin to sleep, she felt a familiar weight settle across her head, petting her gently. _Like a dog._ Somehow she couldn't quite care, it felt nice.


	15. Chapter 15

**What Could Have Been**

* * *

Seras Victoria rolled over, tucking her left leg higher up against her stomach while pillowing her head more deeply into her upraised arms. After a moment she frowned and realized that her bed felt extremely uncomfortable, more like… Cracking open an eye curiously she grimaced as she realized she was sleeping on the floor. The blonde pushed herself up into a sitting position and blinked, realizing that this was _not_ the tower room she'd staked a claim on, nor was it a hotel room, or even another train cabin, let alone a cargo hold. This was a room, a plain stone room, with… no door, or window. "What?" Shaking her head, and rubbing her palms against her eyes to ensure what she saw wasn't just a trick of the light – what light? – she realized that, indeed, there was _no way out._

"Master!" She shrieked, emotions writhing chaotically like a pit of snakes; annoyance, very slight amusement – so, so slight as to be negligible, anger, frustration, anxiety… fear. _What if he was sick of her? Locking her away to rot in this room for being weak, and disappointing him too often._ Shivering and rubbing her arms, she began to pace.

It didn't take long, not really, but it was enough time to put her on edge before she felt a phantom caress of a hand across her cheek, _**'Seras.'**_ His voice whispered between her ears and she stopped dead, looking around wildly for any sign of him. There was none.

"Master?"

There was no answer, and she frowned. "Why am I here?"

'_**To learn a lesson, Police Girl.'**_

Her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed in distaste, "What lesson?" She asked suspiciously, raking her eyes slowly across the walls, even scrutinizing the ceiling and floor for any trace of her Master's being; a too dark shadow, perhaps one of his disembodied eyes staring at her, _anything!_

'_**Now that would be telling.'**_ He chuckled viciously, his black amusement echoing in her head. _**'Take a guess.'**_ He goaded, sounding entirely too smug about this ordeal.

Seras thought for a moment, and frowned, "To walk through walls?" She queried, hoping she was right.

'_**Very good. You won't find any shortcuts this time, Police Girl. You will see no other person, hear no other voice, and feel no other touch than my own until you figure out how to escape this cage. And'**_ he added with a particularly malicious note of glee, _**'you won't be fed, either.'**_

"That's not fair!" Seras complained, recalling with a – not unpleasant – shudder the feel of his fangs at her throat. He'd already drunk so much of her blood, and she'd lost a lot more during that fight, gaining barely any back from her meal. Already she could feel the tingle in her teeth signifying her growing hunger.

'_**Whoever said life was fair, Police Girl? Unlife is just the same. Power is everything, little fledgling.'**_ Again she felt that phantom touch brushing a stray strand of hair from her face before it vanished along with the sensation of Alucard in her mind.

She suddenly felt terribly lonely.

"But what am I supposed to do..?" She moaned to herself, cradling her face in her hands. She'd only learned the third eye trick with her Master's guidance, and unlocking her unnatural speed to its potential had been a need of survival. To be honest… she had no idea what it meant to truly be a vampire. Sure she had new reflexes, and was stronger, and most definitely faster, she could shoot just about anything with the help of her third eye, and… She drank blood. Well, that's what all the vampires do in the stories, right? So she drank blood, and slept during the day – though she wasn't burned to a crisp like the movies said – to stalk the night like some unholy creature. But what else? Her Master seemed to think there was so much more to it, and perhaps there was, but she just didn't see it yet. _Yet,_ She supposed that was the key word there, being ageless and all; she'd live forever unless killed.

But what did that really _mean_? She was nineteen! Her birthday was November 27th, and she'd be turning twenty in … well, in a few days if she was calculating the time right, it was a bit unclear how long she'd spent travelling with Alucard, how many times he'd put her to sleep and for how long… Biting her lip, Seras slumped against the wall and propped her chin on the arms crossed over her bent knees. Until two months ago or so, the only thing she'd thought ahead about were holidays, and even then it'd be weeks in advance, not months or years, _or decades, or centuries…_

Grunting, she tossed her head back against the wall and cringed at the impact, but the pain helped clear her head of the looping thoughts surrounding the unknowns of her new life. _Just focus on one day at a time, Seras. Start with the reason you're in this room and work your way up from there. Master called it phasing, walking through walls or sinking through floors, or even popping your head up through ceilings._

Brining her hand up to her mouth, she began to gnaw on her thumb as she pondered how to unlock such a power within herself.

"Well, it's worth a try." She mumbled, and stood, making her way easily through the pitch blackness to the wall opposite her where she glanced between her hand and the wall. _Let me through._ She thought commandingly, and pressed her palm to the stones. Nothing happened. Pushing harder, a cold sweat broke out on her forehead and her teeth began to grit in thre effort of trying to _force_ the power to work. The wall groaned and a dent the size of a grapefruit formed in the grey block.

With a snarl she struck the stone with her fist, and watched in satisfaction as spiderweb cracks spread from the impact point.

"Okay, brute force is a no. Kind of obvious…"

Over the course of the next few hours she proceeded to try and fail at many different approaches; telling herself she was the one that changed, not the wall, pleading with it, swearing at it – mostly out of frustration more than any mind it might work – liberally sprinkled with temper tantrums. The room looked more like miscolored swiss cheese, though none of the dents were true holes for escape.

Exhausted, Seras slumped to the floor and curled in on herself to try and get comfortable. She hadn't heard from her Master at all since waking, though she thought she felt him checking on her progress, he never said a word.

…

Seras woke from fevered dreams with a desperate cry, eyes wild and unseeing as she swung her head from side to side like a hunted animal, searching for any means of escape. "Let me out!" She screamed, sanity fracturing from the continued confinement; in the past few days (_weeks, months, years? She lost track of time beyond when she woke up to when she fell asleep)_ of solitude, feeling only phantom touches and hearing only silent words upon waking each _day, morning, _night. He critiqued her progress – none – and made taunting suggestions of things to try next, whispering promises of blood and comfort if she unlocked this one simple trick herself.

Hearing the echo of her demand from the hollow room, something just _snapped_, and she threw herself at the walls in a frenzy of flying fists and feet. Stone chips exploded outwards, shrapnel cutting her bone white skin, but she paid no heed. She had to get out. Had. To. Get. Out! Blood oozed from her split knuckles and spattered the floor as she smashed and tore at the pitted rock, until with a feral cry she ripped the thick slab from its mooring and jerked back with a hiss. There, beyond the grey rubble, was a dark brown seamless rock face. She was trapped, underground, with no way out.

Hysterics clawed at her thoughts and she collapsed, darkness flooding her even as the world turned red and she heard her body move, the crash of heavy stone hitting the floor, smelled the sharp tang of her own blood, and tasted the dirt in the air.

When she came to, bruised, still mildly bleeding, and covered in dusty grime, she looked up and felt a sob bubbling in her throat. There was a doorway that led into nothingness, mocking her with the unbroken face of the mountain she was surely buried within.

"Master… please… don't leave me here." She whimpered, wrapping her arms around her knees and ducking her head into the false shelter.

…

Starving. She was starving. It was even worse than the first month of her unlife spent throwing the blood packs into the corner of her room in denial, gritting her teeth and bearing with the scolding of not only her Master, but Walter, and even Sir Integra had commented about it.

Lonely, she felt so desperately alone. She'd already relived the death of her parents in her dreams to wake screaming, only to find no one there, nothing to anchor her to the here and now. Her Master hadn't spoken to her in days, and she was starting to think he'd forgotten about her.

_Well why shouldn't he?_

Depression tugged at her very core, jeering at her, whispering cruel words that she couldn't deny.

Until finally, the floodgates opened with a roar and her pent up emotions came spilling out, and she railed against the mockery; _no!_

No, she would not allow him to leave her here, she would get out, would show him that wasn't just a waste of time!

Filled with this new self righteous flame fueling her limbs, she threw herself at the wall with no doubt in her mind that _this would work._

And it did. She felt something ripple, and quite suddenly she was moving through solid stone as though it were a thick fog. Moving, moving, moving… And then, for the first time in what felt like eternity she felt light on her face, and her eyes caught the glow of a flickering flame. She was out! She did it! Except that quite suddenly she couldn't move, she was stuck. She tried to wiggle, but her body would not respond, and frustration beat at her thoughts.

"Master..." Shivering, she looked longingly to the closed wooden door leading out into the castle hallways, out into reality again.

Something stirred by the fireplace and a great black hound with too many eyes rose, stretching and yawning before trotting over to her and sniffing. The hell hound licked her face and she squealed in disgust, "Ew! Ew, ew, ew!" The massive tongue continued dragging across her skin, clearing it of dried blood tears and mortar dust, even going so far as to lick the strands of her hair that followed her part way out of the wall.

"You made it, Police Girl. Very good, but you seem to be stuck." Alucard's voice cooed then, cool breath whisping across her ear, real, and _there_. She tried to crane her head to see where he stood, but remained locked in position, though the dog finally stopped assaulting her with its tongue.

"Master, it's not funny." She pleaded as he began to laugh uproariously at her.

"Of course it is, you finally escaped your prison only to lock yourself in a new one. I could do anything to you, and you wouldn't be able to stop me." He teased, running a finger across her cheek lightly. She tried to feel indignant, outraged, mortified… anything, but all she knew was relief that he was there, even if he was being an ass.

"Now, now, Police Girl, that's not a very nice thing to think about your Sire." He leered at her, his teeth exposed in his trademark manic grin, his copper eyes glowing crimson with his unholy glee over her predicament.

A knock came at the door then, and he frowned, turning away from her to yank the paltry barrier open. Words were exchanged and he grunted in displeasure before nodding and closing the door.

"I'm afraid I have business to attend to, Police Girl. Be a good girl and stay there, hm?" He cooed, patting her head condescendingly.

"No, Master, please don't leave!" She cried, panic sparking painfully in her head. But he was still moving, away from her, leaving her again to be alone. NO!

She collapsed to the floor, whimpering, and reaching out a hand pleadingly to his back. She couldn't stand being alone again. Not right now. "Please…"

Warmth settled over her them, feeling like a blanket, but when she looked all she saw was red. It took her muddled brain a moment to realize it was his coat, and then strong arms scooped her up off the ground and held her gently to his chest, his free hand running gently through her mussed hair.

"Shh, Seras, I won't leave you." He soothed, tucking her snugly to his side, her legs draped loosely around his hip. She sighed and shuddered with relief, draping her arms around his neck and resting her cheek on his shoulder. She closed her eyes then, knowing she wouldn't wake up alone.

Muffled voices surrounded her, but she paid them no mind, floating contently in her restored little world. She'd learned something, grown as a vampire, made her Master proud, and she wasn't locked away anymore like a forgotten toy.

Tomorrow she'd be mad at him, tomorrow she'd lecture him while he laughed at her pitiful human emotions, tomorrow…

Right now, she was just glad he was there.


	16. Chapter 16

**What Could Have Been**

_**AN: **_Woops, been a week. The WCHB muse is being more picky, but TSS has a lot of new ones planned. So at least y'all have something to read, right?

* * *

Alucard glanced down at his Childe with a bemused look on his face, adjusting her more comfortably against his side as he strolled down the halls to the meeting room to discuss the upcoming plans. It was strange, to hold her like this, as though he were a devoted parent carrying their young child. In some twisted way he supposed he was.

It took her longer than he expected, truthfully, but he was pleased with her progress. She needed to become stronger, and through the trials of her isolation, she'd broken and reformed herself all on her own, though he had his doubts that she knew the trigger for her progress.

As expected, the instant he entered the room all conversation halted and fifty pairs of eyes turned in their direction, focusing on the female in his arm that hadn't been seen since the reception for his return to Wallachia. He arched his brows is amusement and made his way calmly to his chair at the head of the long table, shifting Seras to settle her across his lap without disrupting her loose hold around his neck. "Well?" He demanded coolly, and the men closest to him leapt into a riot of information.

He felt his fledgling squirm and tighten her arms – incidentally mashing her quite lovely breasts into his chest – glancing at Seras from the corner of his eye before he smirked, hearing her thoughts whispering in his ears. No, he wouldn't use isolation on her a second time, but separation was still a viable option provided he spent time with her on a regular basis. Having a irreparably broken doll for a fledgling now would be inconvenient.

He tightened his grip over her hip possessively and turned his focus back to the reports.

* * *

Seras scrunched her face up and curled deeper into the warmth at her side, doing her best to ignore the call of the rising moon in favor of more sleep. Her hand moved to brush the ticklish sensation from her face, and felt fur. Wait… what? Cracking an eye open she blinked and shook her head to make sure her eyes weren't lying, she was on a nice plush bed, and her pillow was the massive hound from the day before. The dog was so big that even stretched out as she was against his back he had a good foot left between the top of her head and the nape of his neck. _Whoah._ The ebony hound turned its head and scrutinized her with three pairs of glowing crimson eyes before whuffing softly and leaning over to run its tongue across her face. "EW! Not again!" Wiping the thick film of drool from her cheek with a look of disgust on her face, the blonde swiftly retreated out of slobber range – she hoped.

Mocking laughter filled her ears, and Seras turned her head, finding her Master sitting on another of his throne like chairs with a half full glass of bloodwine in his hand, legs crossed at the knee, and a look of pure evil glee on his handsome face. "Not enjoying your bath, Police Girl? And here I thought the first thing you were going to do when you got out was to take a shower…"

"Being covered in dog drool does not count as being clean!" Seras sputtered indignantly, and yelped as the aforementioned beast pushed her back down on the bed with one massive paw and began to lick her hair. "That's so grooooss… Master! It's not funny!" She half pleaded and half yelled as she squirmed. And then she remembered the new trick he'd put her through so much for… Squinching her eyes shut she sought out that inner self that controlled her unnatural powers, and in an instant she phased through the bed … and whacked her nose on the floor. "Ow!" And then cracked her skull on the bottom of the bed. "Owww…"

Alucard's laughter reached nearly hysterical levels, and she glowered at his feet, then shrieked as the bloody dog phrased through the bed and pulled her out by the foot to resume his obsessive grooming. "God damnit!"

She could see blood tears rolling down her Master's cheeks from the sheer force of his laughter at her expense and she snarled in aggravation. To her surprise, the dog barked at him as well, baring its teeth threateningly.

They both stared at the canine familiar quizzically, Alucard's brow nearly meeting his hairline at the display. "Well, well, well, Police Girl, it seems Baskerville has taken quite the liking to you." Somehow, just by being him she supposed, he managed to turn that comment into a leering pseudo innuendo. She flushed.

"Yeah, well, if being liked by him involved being licked by him, I'll pass." She grumbled, deciding from the name that the hound must be a male. Taking advantage of the momentary pause in the drool assault, she scrambled out from under the mammoth sized hound and took to the nebulous safety of hiding behind her Master's chair, muttering. "Eww… I'm all slimy."

He half turned and gave her a mocking glance over the tops of his glasses before he gestured to the door behind her, "Then go get clean, Police Girl."

She felt strangely reluctant to move, though there was no way in hell she'd ask her Master to wait in the bathroom while she showered just because she was still feeling insecure about him leaving her, but after a moment she straightened and, after a glance at the dog, bolted for the door and slammed it shut amidst another round of raucous laughter. "Master, you're mean!" She hollered through the door before turning to face the shower and fiddling with the handles to get the water going. She pulled the curtain shut, and shucked her clothes, and gloried in the spray of hot water and the convenience of modern staples, like shampoo, and conditioner, and _being clean_.

When she was done, she found a deliciously fluffy robe waiting for her next to a towel. Not questioning her good fortune – he might take it away! – she bundled herself up happily and cautiously peeked out through the door – by phasing her head – in search of Baskerville. The hound was laying at the opposite end of the room, a leash attached to a collar she hadn't noticed before, keeping him tethered in place. Relieved that her efforts to be all squeaky clean would not go to waste three seconds after she left the bathroom, she stepped the rest of the way through the door and flopped herself inelegantly across the bed to stare at her Master.

The things she felt for him were even more jumbled now, and she was torn between so many different responses to his presence, but the most overpowering one at the moment was still relief that he was there. That she was out of the room where her nightmares ruled, and had an anchor to reality again. She still wanted to shoot him in the face, though.

"Mmm, as tempting as that is, Police Girl, you've still got training to do. You are young, and you are weak, and we don't have the time to train you for close combat. That means you need to be able to run away from a fight, or gain enough distance to use that cannon you favor so much."

At the mention of the Harkonnen she perked up eagerly, and he laughed, "Yes, your precious cannon, Police Girl. I'll let you play with it later. First you need to learn how to walk on walls. Your best defense at this point is maneuverability, fledgling."

She sighed, blowing the air at her bangs to send the blonde strands fluttering away from her eyes, and reacted instinctively to catch the object tossed in her direction. It was a blood bag. Staring at her Master wide eyed, a question clear in her sky blue irises, she held the packet protectively to her chest as though he would take it away.

"You won't be isolated, but you will be separated. The vampires in this castle pretend at loyalty, but I do not trust them, and neither should you. So you will not be going out to hunt until I think you are prepared."

She bit into the filmy plastic with a faint grimace, but greedily sucked the crimson liquid down. He was acting different now, and it confused her a little.

He gave her a flat look, "Earlier, Police Girl, I hadn't confirmed my suspicions. I'd rather not go through all this hassle of raising you up right to lose you to a renegade or a spy before you unlock your true potential."

His explanation irked her a little, but she shrugged passively, tossed the empty bag to the floor, and gave him an expectant glance, tilting her head to the side, "Sooo…" she drawled, unknowingly mimicking her Sire's mannerisms, "Wall walking. How do I do that?"

He smirked, and said one simple word; "Practice."


	17. Chapter 17

**What Could Have Been**

* * *

"Practice, he says." Seras Victoria snarled as she leaped at the wall and dug her claw tipped fingers into the stonework, back feet kicking wildly to gain purchase, "Practice my ass! This isn't funny Master!" She howled at the almost-empty room, yelping as the black hound reared up and yanked her down by the ankle in a surprisingly gentle grip. Once on the floor, the struggling fledgling was once more assaulted with a giant drool ridden tongue. Her clothes were soaked with the stuff and her hair was sticking up ridiculously, and she smelled of dog breath!

Cursing blackly, she forced herself to phase through the mutt's paws and launch herself at the wall again, scrambling up the vertical surface with the aid of her black talon-nails and her vampiric speed like some demented undead gecko. She heard Baskerville's claws click on the floor and his teeth snap just shy of her ankle, and she yipped, shooting up to the ceiling and bonking her head. "Oww…"

Her Master's mocking laughter roared in her already smarting skull, and she scowled at thin air blisteringly. Hissing obscenities under her breath, she glanced down warily at the many eyed hound, and made a face as he began to inch his way up the wall towards her with his own claws. She took a deep (unnecessary) breath and stuck her fingers up into the unblemished stones of the enormous room's roof, testing that her weight would hold. It did, so she began to work her way across the room as though she were crossing a set of monkey bars. _Ooh, ooh, eek._ She thought to herself with a snort.

Once she hit the middle, smugly out of reach of the ebony monster's obsession with "grooming" her, she glanced down and smirked at the sight of him sitting on the floor with his ears back and head tilted back to its limit to watch her hang there a good forty feet in the air. He began to bark then, and the sound reverberated in her very bones as it echoed around the hollow space of the ceiling. The sound built and built into such a cacophony that her vision whited out and she clapped her hands to her throbbing head without thinking that action through fully.

Not a second later, her eyes widened and she shrieked as she plummeted towards the floor and another assault of sulphurous drool. _This is going to hurt!_

Was her last thought before a … (she couldn't explain it any better) burst of power exploded in her like a popped balloon and when she came to from her mini black out, she was laying pinned to the ceiling by some unseen force. Baskerville sat silently on the floor below her, and she sighed in relief that he wasn't barking again. Sitting up cautiously she felt her stomach roil as the world tilted sickeningly and the blood rushed to her head. Groaning, and clapping a hand to her mouth, the blonde upside down girl attached to the roof as though glued there waited fort he vertigo to pass. It did after a moment and she felt normalcy return.

_Pff, normal. What in my life could ever be considered normal anymore?_

"How do I get down?" She asked herself aloud, refusing to continue with her prior train of thought.

'_**Jump.'**_ Alucard's voice oozed between her ears, sounding mild and compelling, as though it were as easy as walking down a flight of stairs.

"Yeah, no." Seras snorted, rolling her eyes in aggravation.

His chuckle sent a shiver down her spine and she carefully stood, swaying only slightly before catching her balance with her hair floating above her head like some twisted mockery of a golden halo, and her breasts nearly smacking her in the chin. Making a face at the forces of gravity on her bosom, she made her way to the wall next to the four poster bed, thinking that if her suddenly realized power to defy gravity failed, she'd be able to find a softer landing.

When she reached the edge between horizontal and vertical, she sat down and carefully scooted her way across until she had her feet planted firmly on the wall, and her fingers wedged into the ceiling. Cautiously, she shifted her weight and breathed a sigh of relief as she felt her equilibrium shift and she somehow _knew_ that she could walk down the wall without fear of falling on her face.

She uncurled her fingers from the stone, and was just about to stand up when she felt a malicious cloud of invisible power engulf her and quite suddenly she was plummeting forty feet _again_. She screamed and braced herself for impact, only to be caught in familiar arms.

Alucard laughed uproariously as she turned on him with a snarl and slapped him, the force rocking his head back. He laughed louder and rage pulsed behind her eyes as she swung her arm back and let fly a punch to his jaw. "That wasn't **funny**!"

He snapped his teeth at her teasingly, and she jerked back in his hold, nearly toppling backward from his arms, "You need to develop a broader sense of humor, Police Girl." He smirked.

"I'm not as twisted as you!" She protested, crossing her arms over her chest and squirming in the iron grip of his hands on her hips.

"Give it time." He purred, leering at her suggestively. "In any case, fledgling, I'm proud of you. You learned this new power much more quickly than the last."

"So that's, what, three out of a hundred?" Seras asked wryly, feeling oddly warm from his praise despite her annoyance with his perverse sense of humor.

"Something like that." Alucard laughed and dropped the blonde on the bed, patting her head condescendingly. "Get some rest, childe, it's nearly dawn. I promise the big bad dog won't slobber on your in your sleep." Again that flash of teeth in a mocking grin, and she huffed, turning away from him with a muttered oath. "Master, you're mean."

.


	18. Chapter 18

**What Could Have Been**

* * *

Seras glanced over her shoulder furtively at the slumbering bulk of Baskerville at the foot of the bed, and a secretive smile curled her lips. Her Master was gone, off in some meeting or other, and her – heh – watch dog was asleep. Cautiously, being sure to make no sound, not even that of rustling cloth, she held her breath and made it the rest of the way to the wall. Risking one last glance at the black hound, she tiptoed her way up to the ceiling and phased through. "Phew!"

She wanted to explore, she was bored, and she promised herself to be back before either male noticed. Hopefully.

Seras amused herself for a good twenty minutes just running down the halls and phasing through the walls to enter a new corridor. She also steadily made her way down, as she had a feeling that she was high up in the castle, but she had yet to pass any windows to confirm this theory. Just as she was beginning to grow bored – and a little bit tired, but she wasn't going to admit that, even to herself – she leaped through another wall and came within an inch of hitting someone. _Shit!_

The person shrieked in surprise and fell back on the floor, and Seras' eyes flashed a bloody crimson for a split second as she realized with a shock that the female was a human. Her teeth ached, and she grit them together to stop herself from acting rashly. This stranger was the first human she'd seen in … god she didn't even know how long, and the blood bags she'd been drinking after those few incidents on their journey to the castle left her feeling hollow and unsatisfied.

And then it hit her; this was a _human_ wandering the halls of a vampire's castle. Her – now blue – eyes widened in horror as she stared at the bespectacled ravenette, taking in her somewhat shabby appearance. "Sorry about that… Are you lost?" She asked, offering her hand to the mortal to help her up.

The girl – Seras couldn't tell her age, but something about her just seemed so meek, and childlike – hesitantly took the fledgling's hand and squeaked as she was pulled to her feet. "I… I don't know how I got here." She stammered, looking wide eyed and intimidated by the blonde who was surely no taller than herself, but somehow seemed larger in presence.

"Oh that's terrible! Here, come with me, I think I can get you out of here before anyone notices." Seras spoke and her voice lowered itself to a hushed whisper near the end, her gaze darting about furtively as she curled her fingers a bit tighter around the human's hand to keep track of her.

The ravenette gave her a wide eyed look and swallowed nervously, "Where did you come from? I swear no one was here a second ago…"

Seras laughed nervously, "Uhm, well, it's kinda hard to explain. So let's focus on getting you out instead, alright?" She beamed at the girl, forgetting for a moment that her blood teeth were elongated and clearly visible due to her proximity to the mortal.

The girl cried out and jerked back, but was unable to break Seras' hold. "Vampire!"

Seras' eyes widened and she brought her free hand to her mouth in a shushing gesture, "Shh! Quiet, quiet! They'll hear you! Please, I promise not to hurt you, I want to help you escape. Oh please be quiet!"

The human opened her mouth as if to scream again, and Seras blurred forward to slap her hand over the girl's lips, "Quiet!" She hissed in the girl's ear. "If you want to live, then come with me."

The girl – who had curiously purple-pink eyes, Seras just noticed – nodded and trembled in the blonde's hold. Seras felt something press against her stomach and glanced down curiously at what could be hiding under the other's dress, but was yanked from her thoughts as the girl squirmed and darted sideways in a surprising show of strength.

Seras blinked in surprise, and canted her head to the side curiously, watching something flicker in those strangely compelling eyes before it was whisked away and hidden beneath the ravenette's lashes. "My name's Seras." She stated bluntly, cutting straight to the point, "I figure if you're going to trust me with your life, you might as well know my name. Now come on, I'm pretty sure it's this way." She turned to the right, and started walking slowly.

It took but a moment for her ears to catch the subtle tapping of the human's footsteps following her, "Pretty sure?" She questioned, "as in, you don't actually know?" She sounded suspicious and anxious, but she still followed the blonde.

Seras laughed nervously again, being sure to keep the tones low so as not to carry too far, "Yeah, well, my Master hasn't really let me explore much. But I'll know my way once we get to a familiar part, I'm sure." She half turned to flash the mortal another smile, and took a right.

An awkward silence descended on the pair as they walked, this continued for some time, and Seras felt more and more anxious as time passed without them appearing to make much progress. All she needed now was her Master finding her missing from the room and coming to investigate, she'd be punished for sure! …And the human would most certainly die. She didn't want that, either.

Just then, a strange smell came to her nose and she heard the clack of heels on stone. _Double shit!_ Glancing about frantically from side to side, she saw no doors and cursed blackly – but silently – and turned to tackle the human into the wall, sheer desperation fueling her powers to allow them both through and away from the vampire that was approaching them. She immediately slapped a hand to the mortal's mouth to smother her scream, and as she looked up, she realized she knew exactly where they were.

"Shhh…" She reminded the stone still mortal, removing her hand after a moment and helping her to her feet, "It's this way. C'mon, hurry." She dragged the girl by the hand – quite literally as she was going a little too fast for her to keep up on her own – down the hallway to the servants door she'd used her first day here.

Her ears twitched as she caught a suspicious sound, and her eyes widened as she realized it was someone walking down the hall after them. _Damnit!_ Jerking the human so hard she nearly dislocated her arm, she flew down the remaining steps and burst out the door, keeping the sense of mind to close it softly behind her, leaving the pair encased in the gloom of night. Not that it would do much good if the vampire behind them was smart enough to realize the scent was too fresh, and came to investigate. She hoped to be back in her room and the human on her way to safety before that, however.

The girl jerked away from Seras and rubbed at her aching shoulder with a grimace. "Thanks, I guess." She muttered, and Seras grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.

That was when fire exploded in her skull and she crumpled to the ground, everything going dark.

* * *

_**AN:**_Don't kill me!  
Bonus points go to who knows who that bespectacled ravenette is. :D


	19. Chapter 19

**What Could Have Been**

_**AN:**_ Hee, WhiteChalk guessed it! So here's an update. I'm working on the others now.

* * *

Her veins burned like fire, she felt as though her skin were melting, and a crushing pressure burrowed through her skull as though someone was attempting to break it under their foot like she'd done that ghoul in the hospital. She tried to groan, but no sound came from her lips. She tried to move, but her limbs would not respond. Acute fear spiked in her then that she was paralyzed and possibly dying.

She tried to gather her thoughts to call out for her Master, but the flames burned higher and hotter, trapping her mind in her broken body.

The roaring in her ears abated slightly and she heard voices dimly. She struggled to concentrate on them, hoping they held a clue to what the hell just happened to her.

"-gger just _had_ to lift her hand, it deflected my shot." Seras would have screamed if she could as she felt a boot connect with her ribs. "What are you even **doing** with this monster, Yumie? You were supposed to scout, not get caught!"

"Well it's not my fault! She was phasing!" Seras heard the other reply, and she realized after a moment that it was the one she'd helped.

…What?

"How the blood soaked Protestant hell is she even alive?" The kicker growled and kicked again. Seras swore she felt a rib crack, but she was helpless to do anything as the inferno intensified. Oh god, it felt like her bones were melting.

"She told me her name was Seras. I think she must be _his_ fledgling."

"What?!"

"We should take her with us, question her. Then kill her, of course."

"You're insane, Yumie! We should just end her now, the only good vampire is a dead vampire." The other snarled, and Seras thought that perhaps it was another female.

"Don't be hasty, Heinkel, if she's _his_, then we can use her as a bargaining chip if they catch us." Yumie spat, and their argument grew more hushed as they lowered their voices and walked a bit away from the supposedly comatose fledgling.

Seras tried to catch their words, but consciousness was failing her, and she was quickly swallowed by blackness yet again.

When she came to, she was dangling awkwardly across someone's shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She could feel dampness in her scalp, and the blood was rushing to her head. She tried to move, but again felt that paralyzing wave of agony as the embers in her veins threatened to spark into a new inferno.

Cracking an eye open through sheer force of will, she caught a disorienting play of dim colors before she blacked out a third time. Browns, blacks, and a hint of smokey gray. She thought she felt a breeze, so they must be outside, perhaps going down the cliffs?

Her head jerked to the side and she grunted – the closest she could get to a scream – as the world flooded back in a sea of pain.

She tried to move her arms, and couldn't, but swiftly realized it was because they were tied to her side with her wrists bound to her thighs, and her knees and ankles bound to the legs of a chair. Slowly, achingly slowly, she turned her head back and opened her eyes; it took a moment for her foggy gaze to focus, but when it did she was confused, shocked, and a bit frightened.

To her left stood a woman in a nun's habit with a sword at her hip and a silver cross dangling on a shimmering chain, the color and length of her hair and the piercing eyes told the shocked fledgling that this was Yumie. Across from Yumie stood a person Seras believed to be female with blonde hair dressed like a priest with a rather crazed grin on her face and the glint of the lights inside the cave hiding her eyes from view. Somehow she knew that this was the person who had kicked her earlier and slapped her just now.

"Good, you're awake, filthy Protestant whore. Tell us what your Master is planning, or I'll put another bullet in you." The blonde's accent was thick and hard to understand, but Seras caught the gist of it and her brows furrowed.

"What makes you think I know anything?" She managed to growl, her voice hoarse and weak.

"Don't be stupid, you're _his_ fledgling. Of course you know. Now tell us." Yumie snapped, and Seras saw her hand clench on the hilt of her blade.

"And I told you I don't know what you're talking about! Who are you people?" Seras hissed, her voice gaining volume as her vampiric nature took effect.

Heinkel – at least Seras assumed that was her name – bared her flat white teeth in a snarl and pistol whipped the captive upside the head.

"Don't play dumb with us, you heathen. We are Iscariot, true Servants of God, meant to cleanse the earth of such filth as yourself."

Seras' head reeled and she groaned, clenching her eyes shut as a trickle of warm blood oozed down her forehead. Her sluggish brain took that moment to piece together what the guns woman said, and she realized what _'another bullet'_ meant. Holy shit, the sniper had shot her _in the fucking head!_ The fact that she wasn't dead wasn't much of a comfort right then!

"I told you I don't know!"

Again the handgun made contact with her jaw, and she was privately amazed her neck didn't snap from the force of the impact, as it sent her reeling backwards and tipped the chair dangerously on two legs.

"Bullshit! Don't lie to us. Your Master has been gathering monsters under his flag since that Protestant bitch's death! We know he's planning something against the Vatican, and you're going to tell us everything you know, or I'll be introducing you to your innards you bitch."

Seras hissed at Heinkel, probably a stupid move, but what the hell.

Her suspicions were proved correct as the sadistic blonde kicked her in the stomach and the chair toppled backwards, making the undead blonde crack her head on the rock strewn floor. _Ugh…_ That **really** hurt.

"You'd better tell us." Yumie broke in, almost sounding kind, "Your death will be much faster if you do."

Seras gasped for breath she didn't really need and glared up at the two supposedly holy warriors. Her eyes slowly darkened to a deep threatening crimson and she bared her teeth in a snarl, "Go to hell!"

Heinkel lunged and kicked her in the ribs, sending the chair skittering to the side, and from the corner of her eye Seras saw the androgynous female raise her gun to shoot when the lights flickered dramatically and a deep male voice boomed from the opening in the cliff face.

"Don't be so hasty, Heinkel."

* * *

_**AN:**_Zomigawd! Who's that? :o  
What's going to happen to our favorite Draculina?! Find out (maybe) next chapter! :D


	20. Chapter 20

**What Could Have Been**

_**AN:**_Posting a bit earlier than planned cuz I got 100 reviews. Fwee. ^_^  
Working on ch22 now, hoo boy is that gonna be a big'un. DON'THATEME!

* * *

"But Father…" (it came out more like 'Fadder', but Seras was sure that's not what she meant) exclaimed Heinkel as she turned to face the shadow looming there with its small round glasses and golden cross gleaming eerily.

"You are such a stupid child, I told you not to go up there!" He growled, and Seras saw the two shrink back and bow their heads, "What did you think would happen from taking a fledgling? All you two have accomplished is announcing our presence to the enemy."

Heh, they were getting scolded. Seras was pretty amused by this despite the situation of, oh, you know, being tied to a chair and near helpless in the same room (cave) as a gun toting maniac. . . Well, a gun toting maniac that _wasn't_ her Sire.

"But Father Anderson," Yumie started softly, and Seras noticed her gripping the hilt of her blade, as if to steel herself, "This is _his_ progeny! Surely we can use her in some way? She claims not to know anything, but surely she's lying?" It sounded as if Yumie tried to make the last sentence a statement, butt the quaver in her voice made it sound like a question as well.

"Of course she's lying!" Heinkel spit, "that's all they do, the unholy filth."

Seras was tempted to show 'hey!' in protest of such defamation of character, but decided to not draw the attention.

"The old ones rarely share such knowledge with the weaklings, even their own unholy children. She was genuine in not knowing who we are." Father Anderson cut in, sounding grave and irritated.

"Bu-"

"Enough! You two are to be quiet, and not cause more trouble. You went against my orders already to invade the castle, let alone bring a _hostage_ back. We must now decide what to do with her now that we have her." The priest snarled at the girls, and bared his perfectly square and white teeth in a grimace that sent shivers down Seras' spine.

_Oh god…_

While they argued, Seras experimentally tried to use a small amount of her power to free her hand, but a blade swung through the air and embedded itself in the stone a hairs breadth from piercing her arm. "We'll have none of that, wee vampire lass. You are to sit tight and prepare yourself like a lamb before the slaughter."

Seras cringed, voice locking up from panic. _Oh god, I'm gonna die. They're gonna kill me. I'm gonna die!_

**_'This is no time to lose your head, Police Girl. Iscariot made a bold move to take you, but I will not allow them to keep you. My pawn, you will dance to the tune of _****my_ whim, not theirs.'_**

Oh, she had never been so happy to hear the low mocking tones of her Master's mind voice in her head! The world around her faded and she found herself sucked into a strange inverted ental landscape, half red and half green, she stood on the green half while Alucard's shadow loomed above (and upsidedown) on the red. "This is your first test on the battle field, Police Girl. Free yourself and return to me/" He commanded, with no room for refusal.

Seras felt a pressure clamp around her skull and bit deeply into her lip to fight back the scream. The fire was back in her veins, burning her alive, but it was of a different intensity this time. It felt as though she were fit to burst with power.

**_'Come to me Seras.'_**

Her eyes snapped open – when she she close them? – and in a second she was free of the chair and scittering up the walls and ceiling of the rocky tunnel, fangs bared in a grimace of pain and eyes glowing with such feral intensity as to make her appear as more a beast than human.

She heard an exclamation from the three behind her and a whistling in the air, but she couldn't focus on that. Agony speared her leg and she screamed as she swung herself up and out onto the cliff face, blood oozing and marring the stones.

A blade – blessed silver, she could tell from the smoke puffing from the edges – was embedded in her thigh. _Ohgod…_ Forcing herself to ignore it, to block out the pain, for she knew if she stopped it would all be over, Seras voiced an animal scream as she leaped up from boulder to boulder, and clambered like an undead billy goat up the jagged face of the mountain. Oh god, she felt like she was going to be sick.

Forcing nausea aside, she threw herself more frantically up and up _andupandupandup…_ Until at last she spotted a familiar flash of bronze in the moonlight and she leaped to the side in time to dodge a flurry of bullets.

She had to get to the castle, had to get to her Master. The burn of borrowed power was ebbing away and she felt exhaustion creep into her bones, slowing her reaction time. Another spray of bullets exploded behind her, and the shrapnel cut her legs. She cried out weakly and nearly lose her grip on the edge, nearly plummeted to her certain death.

And then she was there, somehow she had made it. Collapsing in a trembling heap on the grassy plain of the plateau, she whimpered out a quiet "Master" before she blacked out. God, she was doing that a lot. It made her feel so weak, and helpless, and useless, and…

She was swallowed whole once more and thought no more, but somewhere, deep within the shadow of her subconscious, she felt his presence as he appeared beside her to answer her call.


	21. Chapter 21

**What Could Have Benn**

_**AN:**_Stupid muse is being stupid. Sorry about the delay. D:

* * *

Seras jerked back to consciousness not a minute later as the blessed blade was pulled from her thigh. She screamed, but the sound was choked and muffled, pathetic. God, she felt like crap.

"You look like crap, too, fledgling." Alucard snorted, discarding the blood stained holy weapon in the grass carelessly. "Have you seen yourself?"

She mutely shook her head that no she had not.

A vicious grin split his lips as he hauled her to her feet by a hand on the back of her neck. They vanished a second later and reappeared in the windowless room with Baskerville – who barked and jumped around excitedly when he saw her – in front of a mirror. Seras stared at herself wide eyed. Her once blonde hair was dyed red with her own blood, and her right hand was crusted with the stuff – how had she not noticed? – not to mention her thigh. She…had been shot… in the head. Dazedly she recalled the comment about her hand, and realized she'd lessened the impact to her skull by having the bullet pass through her hand. Her eyes were back to blue she noted with some relief.

"I told you earlier, Childe, to not trust anybody." He growled, looming behind her in the reflection, he looked annoyed, "and what do I find? That you were leading a human wandering the halls out to _safety_. Did it ever occur to you that she was not merely some lost blood donor or pet?"

Seras hunched her shoulders and squared her jaw, "Well you never tell me anything! How was I supposed to know some psycho nuns or whatever would be scoping out the castle?"

His hands descended to her shoulders and his fingers curled punishingly into the muscle, and she winced, "Did you think Hellsing was the only organization to hunt the undead, Police Girl?" He purred threateningly, something dark in his expression that scared her far more than his tone.

She flicked her gaze away and shifted nervously, wincing as he tightened his grip on her shoulders. "I… I guess not."

"You _guess not_, Police Girl? You don't sound very sure." She was sure that something would give, either her skin in a spurt of blood, or cracking bones his hold on her was so tight. She voiced a strange half whimper, half growl, and tried to pull away, only to be yanked to her Sire's chest with a snarl.

"I'm beginning to doubt my decision to leave you so much freedom, fledgling."

"That's not fair!" Seras hissed, glaring at the mirror, and by proxy, at her Sire. His upper lip curled in a sneer, "Life's not fair, and neither is unlife. Give me one good reason I should not simply lock you in my coffin until all this mess is over." He growled, and Seras' suspicions were confirmed as she heard bone crunch and she shrieked as her collarbone snapped.

"Wh-" she panted, gasping for breath to focus the garbled mess spewing from her mouth into sound, "What would be the fun in that?"

It was a wild gamble, playing at her Master's morbid sense of humor.

He barked out a laugh and released her abruptly and she crumpled to the floor in a heap, yelping in pain. "Very good, Police Girl. What would be the fun indeed?" His good humor returned – at least she hoped so – he stalked with a fluid grace back to his throne like chair near the bed, and settled himself into it in an indolent sprawl.

"Master…" She began hesitantly, leaning against the mirror and staring at him from under her blonde fringe. He twitched a brow upwards and she swallowed dryly, "Who were those people?"

Alucard grunted and crossed his legs at the ankle over his knee and his trademark amber glasses appeared on his finger, balanced by the nosepiece. "The Vatican, Section XIII, Iscariot. They are the holy warriors of the Catholic church, fledgling, and their job is to eradicate the monsters that defile the blessed earth their god granted them." He sounded bored.

"Why did they think you were planning something against them?" She asked bluntly, blue eyes flat and devoid of emotion. She had her poker face on.

"Because I am." He grinned, baring his sharp teeth. "The Catholic dogs have been getting ahead of themselves since my time at Hellsing. I intend to knock them down a peg, more than that, really. I intend to storm the Vatican and bring an end to their reign, two thousand years of their inane prattle, and they never change."

Seras gaped at him, appalled.

"B…Why?"

"Did you forget already, little fledgling, what those two rogues did to you? They are planning their own war, I simply intend to win."

"Bu-…bu-…" Her mind scrambled, thrown off track, "what about that vampire, the Dandy Man, how does he play into this?" She challenged, grasping at straws.

Alucard's expression turned sour and his eyes burned cold fire. "That, Police Girl, is a matter to be dealt with afterwards. We shall be incredibly busy over the next while, and it will be **glorious**."

She looked away from him, and grimaced as the taste of bile rose in the back of her throat. Oh god, what was she mixed up in?


	22. Chapter 22

**What Could Have Been**

_**AN:**_I felt bad about not updating in really long. So I cut this chapter short. To make up for it, I'm typing the next one right now and it starts with Seras blowing a helicopter out of the sky._ Do you forgive me now?_

* * *

Out of the corner of her eye she saw him move, as though he were about to stand, and she tensed slightly. Her mind shrieked a warning abruptly, and she threw herself to the side as an unknown vampire phased through the wall right where she'd been sitting.

"My L-erk!"

The male didn't get a chance to speak as Alucard shot across the room and slammed him into the wall he had emerged from by the grip on his throat, snarling. A moment passed and Seras stared at them wide eyed as her Sire dropped the ash blonde haired intruder to the floor in a heap. The vampire coughed a bit, but wisely kept himself down in a submissive posture. "My Lord," he continued at last, "they're at the gate! They just came out of no where, and they seem to have an endless supply of blessed bullets, holy water, and those damned blades."

Alucard growled, and the messenger flinched, but continued speaking hastily, "It seems they are not waiting for the air strike as we assumed, but they still possess a small fleet of copters. The Iscariot are invading and have already slaughtered most of the chattel in the receiving hall. We require your aid, my Lord."

"Get out, I will join you shortly." Her Master commanded, and the kneeling man melted into the floor without a word. The red clad vampire turned to her and she edged back to the wall, bracing herself against the stones.

"I know you, fledgling, and realize you will not sit idle during this slaughter. Take the hound with you for protection and try not to get killed. I do so hate wasting my time and effort on a thing, only for it to be killed in an act of foolishness." Without giving her a chance to respond, he melted away into thin air and she sat gaping at the spot he'd been. It took her a moment to collect her thoughts, and by then Baskerville had tugged her Harkonnen out from some unknown hiding place, and was holding the massive weapon in his jaws like a loyal mutt playing fetch. Arching her brows at the display, Seras grinned, and fondly reached out to swing the cannon over her shoulder as though it weighed no more than a duffle bag. "Good boy."

Baskerville barked and wagged his tail, and her grin widened to a smirk eerily reminiscent to one her Sire would give. "Let's go to the roof, whaddaya say, boy? I could use some target practice." She laughed as the ebony hound barked his agreement and turned to the far wall. She followed him and the pair vanished from the windowless, doorless room, that had perhaps been the safest place for her in the castle of the undead.


	23. Chapter 23

**What Could Have Been**

_**AN: **_Another update! Because it's really short. I'm going to be doing a lot of really short chapters while my muse holds out. So I'll probably see you at least one more time tonight. ;)  
_Hopefully Seras doesn't seem too different... Juggling so many stories in my head makes it a bit harder to keep her in the right mentality._

* * *

The girl and her dog appeared on the castle roof, moonlight gleaming on the silver cannon perched on her shoulder. Her blue eyes darkened with excitement, and red crept into their edges as she felt the night wind on her shoulders. Strangely, she had the thought that she should feel guilty over this, but… Shaking her head, she took a moment to observe the helicopters circling the fortress, firing bullets mercilessly at the fleeing figures on the ground below.

Her lip curled in disgust, and her now crimson gaze turned flat and intent as she swung the muzzle of her beloved and oversized gun up to fire at the closest metal bird.

Not stopping – yet – to take in the results of her actions, she popped the spent shell loose and reached into her ammo bag – that had been tied innocently to the trigger when Baskerville had fetched it from wherever it had hidden – for a new round, and cocked the barrel back into alignment, firing off her second volley with a practiced ease.

Again and again she repeated this maneuver, even as the Iscariot's air support realized what was happening and targeted their fire upon her. Baskerville was little more than a distorted reflection of a shadow as he deflected their counter fire.

Flames billowed through the air as the rotating blades faltered and the wreckages fell prey to the cruel claws of gravity. Seras' hair was ruffled in the wake of a bullet passing centimeters from her skull, but she did not falter.

Her lips curled back from her teeth and a shiver rippled its way down her spine as she alone took down the airborne force keeping the other undead pinned to the ground. It took her a moment to realize that she had shot down the last chopper, and was aiming her cannon at empty space. Blinking and shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she looked down.

_Oh god…_

She wanted to be sick, but a part of her felt viciously triumphant.

**_'Just remember, it's us or them.'_** Her Master's voice whispered in her mind, and she wasn't quite sure if he was actually speaking or if it was a half forgotten memory from one of her first missions.

She swallowed, and her lower lip trembled. But… but now wasn't the time to break down. What's done is done.

Shoulders straightening, she glanced down at her gun, and smiled fondly. It would be implausible to use it inside – and the thought of sending one of her depleted uranium shelled bullets into a crowd of _humans_… Swallowing back the gathering bile, she forced herself to move on – so she tucked the massive weapon away where she could find it later, and turned to the hound with a grim look on her face.

"C'mon boy, let's go."

Baskerville whuffed in agreement as they phased into the stones, leaving the stench of hot metal and burning flesh behind them.


	24. Chapter 24

**What Could Have Been**

* * *

It was only when she reached the third floor that she realized something; she didn't have a gun. She didn't have any weapon to defend herself other than her own teeth and claws, and Baskerville. What the hell was she _thinking_? What did she think she could do?

"I'm just a fledgling…" She muttered to herself, feeling uncertainty grip her. Her Master had tailored her growth specifically for running _away_ from trouble. Because she was weak. So far as she could tell, she had been a vampire for less than half a year.

Just… what the hell was she supposed to do? She couldn't stand the thought of running and hiding like a coward.

Baskerville leaned his massive head into her side and voiced a low sound in his throat, it sounded vaguely encouraging. She grinned at him, then, and reached out to ruffle his ears. "I know, I know. Mope later. Do you know where I can get a gun?" She asked hopefully.

She might be useless in terms of being a vampire, but she was a damned good shot.

The hound cocked his head to the side for a moment before grinning a toothy doggy smile at her and turning the other way, glancing over his shoulder in a clear 'come on' gesture.

She followed him and they came swiftly upon a small armory – it was about half empty – where she found a supply of small arms. That grin from the rooftop returned to her visage as she readied herself for battle.

The pair returned to the halls once more and this time it was the fledgling who cocked her head, listening. Sounds filtered up to her ears; screams, crashes, thumps, and _there_, the sound of gunfire.

She hesitated a moment, and glanced down at her canine companion. He gazed back at her with such a strange look in his red eyes – that so reminded her of her Master – that she laughed softly and nodded solemnly back at him.

"No time to be a coward, right?"

Discretion is the better part of valor.

The Police Girl moved cautiously through the halls and stopped abruptly as she felt a rumbling under her feet. Blinking, she looked down, and her brows lifted. Well, she was closer than she thought…

Pursing her lips in thought, she considered her next move carefully before she allowed herself to melt into the stones.

She emerged slowly, bracing herself for the vertigo as she oozed out of the ceiling of the hall upside-down, her feet planted firmly on the stones above. She was grateful that she knew how to do this; intangibility, defiance of gravity, her third eye, and though she had not used it yet, the inhuman speed she was granted as an unholy creature.

The sight that greeted her was wholly unexpected from what the messenger had reported but minutes prior; while it was true she saw a rather significantly sized mound of ash against the walls, and black blood congealed on the long carpet, there were also a good number of clearly human body parts littering the floor. Silver and golden crosses gleamed in sync with the jerking guns and flailing blades in the strange never dimming torch light from the brackets below the windows. At the same time, blood shadows, claw tipped limbs, simple brute force, and a return fire of unblessed bullets peppered the ranks of the warrior priests. The vampires were clearly holding their own.

It would be foolish to announce her presence by opening fire now, so she moved slowly across the ceiling to perch by one of the wrought iron chandeliers for cover. She felt hot breath on her neck and the familiar presence of her Master's hell hound loomed at her back, hanging back and observing with her.

A commotion broke out below and she turned her head to the right to watch a group of about a dozen or so glasses wearing humans converge on a single vampire. In a split second she recognized that tell tale head of silver hair at the same time the crazy woman was run through with reinforced and blessed blades. Nekette laughed and laughed and Seras cringed at the assault on her senses even as the petite vampires ripped the sword from her chest – Seras half expected to see the mad creature's heart impaled on it – and swung herself in an arc, beheading the fools in one fell swoop. One of the bodies twitched, and Nekette's laughter crescendoed into a banshee shriek as she plunged her hand into the chest of the decapitated man to yank out his heart and take an obscenely large bite out of the still twitching muscle.

Seras looked away and watched as another elder vampire leaped into a group of the dwindling holy men, blood geysers gouting from stumps, and screams battling for dominance with the unhinged mirth of Nekette.

Another scream dragged her attention back to the mad creature, and Seras watched in growing horror as the aforementioned undead threw herself into a gathering of vampires and shoved her hands through their backs to rip out their tainted hearts and turn them to dust. What the hell was going on?!

The opposing forces came to a temporary truce at that moment as they all turned on the laughing woman in her too large shirt and the mismatched eyes.

"You bitch! What the fuck is wrong with you?" A ginger haired midian shouted at the apparent traitor. Nekette blurred forward and wrapped her hand around his throat with a snarl, "Is that any way to talk to a woman?" She questioned, before ripping the poor sot's head off and painting herself in the spray of ruby droplets before his body crumpled to yet more ashes.

Another vampire stepped forward to confront her, and Seras thought for a moment she recognized him, but kept her focus on the monster at the center of the hall – constantly peppered with bullets from the Iscariots keeping their distance – who never _ever_ stopped laughing. Nekette canted her head to one side (even as part of it was blown away and regenerated seconds later) before grinning and blurring. Seras was disturbed when it seemed as if there were suddenly five of the mad thing, and they all began to circle the group of survivors.

She didn't understand why… Why was she doing this?

One of the argent women looked up, and Seras trembled as their eyes locked.

**_'Because I can, little pretty one. I enjoy killing.'_**

Just then, one of the copies launched herself at the back of the second man to oppose her for her treachery, and Seras found she couldn't look away as the raven haired man's head was ripped off with a sickening _pop_, and an arm was shoved into the gaping neck to emerge seconds later with a struggling mass. Seras felt sick as she realized it was the other's heart. Nekette stared at it for a moment before crushing it, and kicking the body that was slowly disintegrating, scattering the ashes crudely.

This was no longer a battle. It was a fucking massacre.

Baskerville apparently agreed with her, because he chose that moment to drop from the ceiling with a howl and tackle Nekette. The other four vanished as she was pinned beneath the hound's feet.

**_'Run, run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man.'_** The words rang in her head, and Seras wobbled on the roof as her skull began to throb from the continued exposure to the madness within the more powerful creature's mind.

**_'Go, go, go, pretty little thing. Adorable little thing.'_** Nekette's words struck her hard and she felt a pressure mounting in her head. Was… she using her powers against her?

Seras trembled as she huddled on the roof of the hall, staring down at the resumed conflict of priest and vampire while her Master's familiar occupied the two faced creature, keeping her murderous intent away from their allies. It took but seconds before she felt as though she were being forced through the neck of a bottle and she found herself sprawled on the floor above in a boneless heap, panting.

Her hazy mind fought to understand what had just happened.

"That… was completely fucked up."

* * *

_**AN:** _That's all from me for tonight.  
Sorry if this chapter seems a bit off... I was having a bit of trouble concentrating because I wrote this chapter once, but lost it. Rewrites are never as good. =|  
Anyways... yeah, more about Seras next chapter. XD She'll be doing stuff, I swear.


	25. Chapter 25

**What Could Have Been**

_**AN:** _Short chapter is very short. Sorry! But I wanted to post anything at all tonight. I'll do my best to get another chapter out tomorrow. I'm going to be splitting this battle of Iscariot vs Vampire up a bit just to post it at all. Sorry. D: But, hey, shorter chapters mean I type faster ... sorta. :P  
Let's see if I can finish this for reals in the next few days? Providing my muse allows.

* * *

Thoroughly disoriented and getting the not so subtle hint to stay out of the entrance hall – jeeze, ya think? – the buxom blonde fledgling gathered herself up to her feet and glanced at her weapons dispassionately. Nothing like watching a vampire free for all to make a handgun seem like bringing a 'knife to a gun fight' as it were. Ugh. "Whatever."

She was being childish, she knew, but bloody _hell_. A faint (horrified) smirk came to her red lips as she shook her head again, "With friends like that, who needs enemies?"

Maybe her Master would appreciate her company… Conveniently forgetting that he left her behind first, she nodded to herself and cocked her head to the side, listening. From below she could hear the clear sounds of an ongoing scuffle… And, she blinked, head nearly reaching her shoulder. From above. There was something going on up there.

Grinning, she darted up the stairs, eager to be useful in some small way, even if it was just as the 'cheerleading squad' so to speak.

Halfway through the upper hallway she paused, tensing. Something felt… _off._

She yipped and leaped back a good ten feet as a bullet embedded itself in the wall where her head would have been if she hadn't stopped.

"I missed… I never miss." A familiar voice growled from a doorway, and Seras mentally pictured a flash of lightning as Heinkel appeared, a sick, mad, grin on her face.

"What, not gonna tie me up this time?" Seras snapped, edging back another step to put her back towards the wall to prevent another surprise like before.

The other blonde bared her teeth in a snarl, and brought another gun up in alignment with Seras' head before pulling the trigger to shoot a jet of flame at the startled fledgling.

"You may have gotten away from us, but you won't be so lucky this time, vampire."

'_Us?'_ Shit, of course, the other one!

Just as Seras was about to turn to survey the hall for the other one, the psycho nun, a flash of silver swished by her head and embedded itself in the nozzle of the flamethrower.

"Well, well, well… what have we here? Need some help, doll?" A vaguely familiar voice cooed in Seras' ear even as the pyromaniac psycho nun cursed and threw the now defunct weapon to the side (where it no so quietly exploded) before drawing a pair of pistols on the vampire(s).

"Yeah, sure, why not?"

What's the worst that could happen?

_Note to self: never say that out loud._


	26. Chapter 26

**What Could Have Been**

_**AN:** _None of this battle set right with me. :[  
I had an original that was better, but I lost it. But the next chapter will finally get back into the flow of things, I promise. (I hope) This was ... yeah. Well, you'll see. Sorry that this one sucks. When this battle arc is over I can settle back into more IC Seras for the second half-ish.

* * *

Arms wrapped around her shoulders, and Seras tensed, instinctively phasing out of them at the same time blessed silver peppered the wall. The female laughed richly and inspected her shirt, "You tore my shirt. I liked this shirt."

"Such a pity."

There! That was the voice of the other, the one that infiltrated the castle first. It was a good thing Seras was still intangible, because a katana was hurtled through the air, straight through her, and was caught by the piratey looking dame from Paris. She wasn't sure, but she thought she remembered the other's name being Madera.

Another bullet whizzed through her, and Seras snarled, seeing red. Something just… snapped (again) and she was suddenly _there_, and real, as she drew her pistol and smacked the other across the face with it – the burning of silver ignored as her wounds sealed themselves, her impulsiveness leaving her open to counter attack. The human hit the wall with a grunt, but her finger never left the trigger and tracked Seras with unsettling ease as the fledgling ducked and weaved around the blessed projectiles.

Seras' blood ran freely down her arms, but she ignored it as she fired back, startled by the other's reflexes yet again as she dodged the vital hits.

A body flew into her and she was too startled to turn intangible as she hit the floor under the weight of the other vampire. Today was really starting to suck. Wait, starting? Riiight...

"Well, that was fun!" Madera chirped before her powers flared out in a ring of darkness and the hallway went black as pitch. Seras' eyes glowed crimson as she turned on her side and observed Madera leap back on top of Yumie and the clash of blades sounded like thunder in her ears before the ravenette missed a block and the midian's blade parted flesh and bone in one clean swipe, severing her leg. Yumie screamed and Seras could hear the click of new clips being loaded as Heinkel roared a curse and raised her guns.

The world seemed to slow to a crawl, and Seras' hands clenched as she turned on her heel – still crouching – and faced the other markswoman before the wall exploded and a swearing blond man hit the floor with a clatter of blades.

* * *

_**AN:**_As was pointed out to me, I forgot to remind you guys who Madera is! She's the other cameo, from (my imaginary friend) VanquishedLithium, aka Lithi. She'll be around for a little bit longer, and probably die a gloriously bloody death. XD What more could any cameo ask for?


	27. Chapter 27

**What Could Have Been**

_**AN:** _Alright, last WCHB for tonight. Now that I'm past the really terrible part of Seras' fight with Heinkel that was an epic fail, I think I can move on faster. Short chapters are still short, but you get a few of them in a row, so that's good.

* * *

Her Master stepped through the hole, and cocked his head, taking in the interrupted scuffle between the females before a bayonet lodged itself in his throat, nearly severing his head. He laughed and ripped it free in a shower of blood, flinging it casually at Heinkel (over Seras' head, no less) pinning her to the wall by her sleeve. The psycho nun-dressed-as-a-priest spit curses in a manner similar to Father Anderson as he clambered to his feet (and she remained temporarily stuck) and grinned at the blasphemous hell creatures with a sickening glee. "We are the servants of God, and the messengers of His justice. We are the instruments of His divine wrath on earth. We are called upon to cleanse His kingdom beneath ash from the flesh of thine enemies." He slid the blades together like a cross and laughed as they sparked, "Praise to Our Lord!"

Seras dove out of the way a split second before a rain of blades embedded themselves in the stone leading up to her unmoving Master, and as she rolled she caught a glimpse of Yumie and Madera almost frozen in place.

Alucard laughed and raised his guns, firing at the incoming silver and shattering the tempered lengths into blessed shrapnel, ready for Anderson's charge through the volley of bayonets. **BANG! BANG!**

The priest's legs were blown off at the knee. Anderson roared in rage and swung at her Master crazily, two more retorts from the Jackal sending him crashing to the floor as his arms were blown off at the shoulder.

"This invasion no longer amuses me, Iscariot. Return to the Vatican, tails between your legs, and tell of your defeat at my hands." The imposing form of her Master sneered as he loomed over the disabled and scarred blonde, a cut on his cheek sealing and sucking the red back beneath his skin.

"Ye god damned monster!" Anderson howled, and Seras watched, stunned, as Yumie echoed the howl and launched herself at Alucard's back. How she managed this with one leg, the fledgling was unsure. But she was sure of how the girl died; a bullet in the heart and the brain and she fell to the floor in a bloody limp heap.

"Are all of your disciples so suicidal?" Her Master asked in an amiable tone as he bent and fisted the short spiky locks of the priest to heft the thrashing man in the air and throw him at the – now free – Heinkel. "Get out of my caslte, catholic dog."

The two papists glared stonily at her Master before a portal opened up beneath them and they vanished.

"Where… did you send them?"

"To the border of my lands." He answered with an indolent shrug, turning to glance at her appraisingly. "Now, my little Police Girl, how did you like your first taste of w-…"

He never got to finish his question. His head exploded and she jumped as a blue blur zipped around in jerky circles, cutting back into the stock still form of her Sire.

"Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor; my bullet punishes all without distinction!" A new female voice screamed victoriously as both Seras and Madera turned to the far end of the hall leading to the upper floors.

'_Oh god… more?'_

* * *

**_AN:_ **For those who missed it: I added a reminder of who Madera is in ch26. She's VanquishedLithium's character, we saw her in Paris or France or whatever, she was the one talking to them when they were watching Nekette dance with the corpses.


	28. Chapter 28

**What Could Have Been**

_**AN:** _I'm not dead, and haven't given up on this fic. I swear. Even if I end up not liking it as much as I did in the beginning this story** will **have an ending. So, here's this and the next chapter as an apology for taking so long. No promises, but I'll try to get 30 out today as well as a birthday present to my (imaginary) friend Lithi.

* * *

For some bizarre reason, her Sire was just standing there as the – magical? – bullet ripped through him, though his body crumpled after a moment and laid still. She couldn't stop staring. He… was alright… wasn't he?

She didn't have time to think any further as the sniper stepped into view; a rather androgynous female dressed in a quite dapper suit with a golden crucifix dangling around her neck, eyes hidden behind her glasses, and rather gravity defying hair swaying with her long limbs. Seras' hand drifted upward of its own volition, caressing the dragon pendant she refused to take off.

The Nazi strolled up to the corpse and toed it with her boot, a disgusted expression on her face. Seras snarled and lunged at her, only to be struck in the face by the ravenette's musket, and god _damn_ but she hit hard! Staggering back, Seras saw Madera step forward with an identical expression of disgust on her pretty face. "Nazism? _Really_? What is this, some kind of 1980s B Grade film fest?"

The sniper laughs snidely and lifts a gloved hand to cover her mouth, "Ach, no, ve vould not be so tacky." She scolded, waggling her finger from side to side, her accent was a bit thick, but still understandable. "My Major's plans, zey are brilliant." She sighed dreamily before lifting her musket and grinning maniacally. "I am the Huntress, Rip Van Winkle. Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor; my bullet punishes all without distinction!" She fired, wide, and Madera almost laughed, but she ducked at the last second as the bullet ignited with blue light and zipped towards her. The piratey vampire bared her teeth and did laugh as her powers oozed out in the form of liquid shadows, she was absorbed by them and vanished for a moment. The bullet struck the stone flooring, and bounced back, momentarily stunned, before racing in a new direction. Seras stared, crouched by the wall and near her Master's still unmoving body. Quite suddenly, the nazi, Rip, was surrounded by amorphous blobs and the magical bullet couldn't hit them all quickly enough.

Seras swore she only blinked and it was over, the enchanted musket ball was on the ground, like its owner who was pinned under Madera's foot on the floor, squirming and struggling to reload her gun for a third shot.

"Yeah, cuz I'm really gonna let you do that." Maddy scoffed before kicking the ancient gun away to skitter across the floor and bump into the snarled and Seras was about to stand and approach the pair when she jerked herself flat to the wall.

Wires wrapped Madera tight as a mummy, and Seras had time only to call out Walter's name in surprise before they tightened. Blood exploded outward as the other vampress was vivisected into nothing more than meat. Seras' eyes widened and she covered her mouth in horror mixed with grief. Yes, she'd seen people die, she'd re-killed people = ghouls, she told herself – and she'd most certainly watched her Master take joy in ending life but this… was different. Why was Walter here?

"Oh dear, did I do that? I must have misjudged my own strength." The familiar tones of the butler's voice floated to Seras' ears, somehow different, and mocking. She turned towards him to say… to say… she wasn't sure, but the words stuck in her throat as she caught sight of him. He looked younger, stood taller, and there were no lines on his face. _Wha..?_ Then, she caught sight of the Nazi emblem on his shoulder.

"Walter! Why..?" Seras called, approaching him, face crumpling with betrayal.

"Oh Miss Victoria... So naive, even now." He sounded a bit disappointed, but flicked his wrist nonetheless and Seras jumped back. Wires ensnared her left arm and whipped her to the side into the far wall. She screamed as they pulled taut, caught there in midair for a split second before skin and bone gave way and her scream rivaled a banshee as she crashed into the wall in a quickly growing pool of her own blood.

"I thought we were friends." Seras whimpered, clutching her shoulder to try and staunch the flow, hunched into herself as she reeled off balance.

She caught a glimpse of his face between the strands of her bangs, but had no time to decipher the look as her Master's corpse twitched and the crimson stains marring the floor and walls seeped into him, forming a squirming mass of shadows. Walter cursed and leapt back a step, hands held at strange angles as his wires shimmered around him in a protective cocoon.

"Friends indeed, my little traitor." Her Master's voice crooned, menace clear in his deep voice. The blackness around him vanished to reveal a… Seras blinked. There was a young girl with long black hair in a white pinafore with a tommy gun at her side.

Walter laughed, and Seras thought it sounded strained, as he attacked the teenage girl with dental floss of death. Alucard – she had the absurd urge to call him Girlycard and giggled, she blamed the bloodloss – dodged with ease and pirouetted about, not yet using the weapon at hi-…her side.

Out of the corner of her eye, Seras saw movement, and turned to observe Rip had finally gotten up from the floor, found her gun, and was reloading it. She waged an internal war with herself in that split second before the darker part of herself won and she wrapped herself in her remaining powers to go unseen by the sniper as she stumbled to her feet and stalked towards the distracted Nazi. With a snarl, she fell upon the other – who was crouched to avoid drawing too much attention to herself – who looked up at the exact moment for Seras to clamp her mouth full of pointed teeth around Rip's throat. Blood poured into her mouth as she growled like a savage beast, and Rip gave choked whimpers as Seras' jaw closed slowly. There was a snap, and the ravenette went limp. Seras sensed something _off_ about the body and leapt back in a surge of instinct as blue fire surrounded the other, turning her swiftly to ash.

High on the vampire form of adrenaline, Seras turned wild red eyes upon the battling duo, and took one step towards them when Walter's amethyst eyes flicked in her direction and he smiled grimly. His left hand shot in her direction, the right flicking and twitching to continue the assault upon the white clad form of her Master. Wires snared her, trapping her arm to her body and her legs snapped together. Before she could fall, she was jerked first towards the two dark haired creatures before a ripple went through the wires and she found herself flying backwards.

Stone erupted around her and she found herself to be falling.

* * *

_**AN:**_Random note: now every cameo is dead. XD Except Nekette. Because I love her and she's fun. Poor dead cameos. Oh well, that's what happens in vampire stories.


	29. Chapter 29

**What Could Have Been**

* * *

Seras Victoria was falling.

The blonde opened her eyes, and stared down at the approaching valley with a blank uncomprehending expression. And then it all came rushing back to her; the fight with Walter, her Master hurt… She tried to move, and winced as the wires dug into her skin, drawing blood. Speaking of blood, she was absolutely soaked with it, and the stump of her former arm was still oozing freely. That's right, Walter had wrapped her in his wires and flung her out of the hallway through the very walls to keep her from interfering.

The onrushing air burned her eyes and they watered with faintly red tinged tears. She blinked and time seemed to slow until it was as if she were floating there above a horror movie in progress, an impartial observer. A familiar figure caught her gaze amongst the chaos of the battling nosferatu; the shimmering moonlit gleam of Nekette's immaculate hair despite her blood drenched appearance, crouched at the feet of that man, no, that werewolf who had taken her from the grand hall that first night. He held what appeared to be a leash and a sick grin on his face that rivaled even her Sire's, she saw his lips move and sounded the words out in her head; Go Fetch. He dropped the chain, and the other vampires leaped back in fear as Nekette voiced a blood curdling war cry, shadows consuming her as she lunged into the mass of her new victims. All this took place in a matter of seconds, and then the fledgling was no longer barreling towards the carnage soaked ground. She blinked and shook her head, still dazed by shock and blood loss, and looked up and up and up into vibrant amethyst orbs. Oh.

"I've got you, little vampire." He spoke, her proximity to his chest sending the deep rumble of his voice shivering through her entangled form. He righted her in his hold, and took up position on one of the damaged castle's parapets to watch over the battle field and the insane creature he held sway over. Seras' feet touched the cool stone and her legs nearly buckled before she regained her balance and sense of self enough to dilute her form so that the wires fell limp and useless.

That little spark of power drained her already strained reserves and she groaned as her skull throbbed in protest, leaning helplessly against the lycan's side. He grunted and placed a steadying hand on her shoulder to keep her from toppling off the low wall surrounding the sloped copper roof.

"Thanks." Seras mumbled, faintly embarrassed. He said nothing, but that suited her just fine.

Morbid curiosity drew her once more to the bloodbath, watching as some great black feline beast with a silver mane eviscerated Nazi troops in geysers of blood, smaller shadows of her murderous attacks followed behind the dangerous paws, felling many of those that dodged the first assault. Something told her that that was Nekette's familiar form, and a ripple of unease sent goosebumps rioting across her pale skin.

So powerful, and so mad… Was this what her Sire would have been without the tempering the Hellsings forced on him? She knew he had his moments, but… Gods.

"She's terrifying isn't she?" The grinning man asked casually, his gaze locked on the demon on the killing field,

"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," He continued, an amused edge creeping into his words, "But her… She was mad before she gained power. She may not be on the same level as your Master, little vampire, but she is quite the sight to behold, no?"

"Why… did she turn on the other vampires when Iscariot invaded?" Seras asked, tilting her head up to watch his face – that grin never wavered, and it only grew as he glanced down at her – as he spoke. "Because she can. She enjoys killing. I stepped in when she took it too far." She blinked, and canted her head to the side curiously, "Why does she obey you? No offense, but you're not strong enough to force her to do anything."

That grin… a shiver rolled down her spine as she stared at it, and his laughter reminded her disconcertingly of her Sire, "Because she chooses to."

That was the end of their conversation and Seras swallowed dryly, wondering what was happening in that hall with her Master and Walter. She felt terribly useless, then, unable to do anything worthwhile in all the fighting. She recalled hen, the words her Master spoke once to the FREAKS they had hunted down on her first mission. She likely wasn't supposed to hear them, she was on the bloody roof for gods sake, but she had.

_You don't know how to change your body into mist or a bat, you can't heal any of your gun shot wounds, and now that you're out of bullets you can't even defend yourself. You dare to call yourself Nosferatu? You disgust me!_

That feeling of depression from her incarceration in the room crept up on her again, but she shoved it back with a mental snarl. No! She would _not_ be useless!

Finally, the wound where her arm used to be stopped bleeding, and an unnatural breeze fluttered her sodden clothes against the force of the winds surrounding the castle. Determination lit her ocean blue eyes and the werewolf observed her with benign curiosity as the red stains marring the girls clothing dried and turned the once white fabric crimson. The blood was absorbed back into her body, but the amount she lost was far greater than what she gained back, and weakness again took her.

The sky bled crimson before everything went black, she was still a young vampire, and her body was unused to the strain of such a hectic day, and simply shut down. Before all feeling left her completely, she felt a pair of hands settle over her shoulders and lower her safely to the chill of the roof.

_I __**will **__get stronger._


	30. Chapter 30

**What Could Have Been**

* * *

When Seras regained consciousness the first thing she saw was a pair of mismatched red and blue eyes. She jerked to the side and nearly toppled off the bed. Nekette laughed and hauled her up into the center of the padded bed, seeming pleased with herself. "The pretty thing is awake." She stated almost to herself. Seras nodded warily.

Nekette planted both hands on either side of Seras' head and leaned in so close their lips were nearly touching as blue flecked with red met sapphire and ruby. The chill breath of the other tickled over her face and she shivered minutely. "The pretty thing was hurt. The pretty thing wants to be _stronger_. Does the pretty thing want some help?"

"…Yes?"

Nekette giggled, the sound grating to Seras' ears and nerves. She inched back until she had no where else to go, still caged in by the mad woman.

Finally, Nekette drew back to give Seras some room, knees pressed into the bed on either side of Seras' hips, and she gave the blonde such a terrifying smile that the fledgling wanted to bolt. She lifted a hand and caressed the side of Seras' cheek, thumb smoothing over the girl's lips before falling away. "Then drink." She urged, slicing her palm and cupping it like a bowl to prevent the blood from trickling between her fingers.

'_**Drink and become stronger, pretty thing. You do not have the time to mature slowly.'**_

Seras was torn, she had gotten over her fear of the blood – had been forced to – but that was from humans. This felt more intimate and… She felt unease form a leaden ball in her stomach. But she wanted to be stronger, to help her Master. She was his fledgling, and stronger than most vampires of her young age, but she was slow to unlock her powers. If this would help…

The smell of rich, powerful, old blood filled her senses and her teeth throbbed. It was like when her Master bled around her, but somehow worse.

Nekette pressed her palm to Seras' lips and she parted them to accept the offering, the red flecks in her eyes burning and flooding her iris with ruby light. The taste was indescribable and it _burned_ going down her throat, but in a good way. She shuddered and her blood teeth grew long in her mouth, just shy of unwieldy. She felt the urge to bite and take more, and Nekette was not drawing back. It'd be so easy just to…

"What did I tell you about my childe?" Her Master's voice hissed, suddenly there in the room with them, lip curled in a snarl and looking absolutely pissed.

"Oh, is the pretty king jealous?" Nekette cooed in return, seeming unphased. Seras felt a strange tingle through her veins and she glanced between the two, drawing back from the silver haired woman at last, a stain of red on her mouth. Her Master grabbed the mad woman by the throat and lifted her off the floor, snarling. "I told you before, harpy. I don't share." With a flick of his wrist he threw the woman out of the room to land in a heap on the floor in the hallway. Nekette laughed and moaned grotesquely.

Seras knew better than to say anything about his treatment of the woman who had helped her, instead she glanced at the place her arm used to be. It felt strange. The urge to wiggle nonexistent fingers made her right hand clench. Her Master loomed there, looking at her over the rims of his glasses, a strange look upon his face. Seras glanced up at him before cringing and curling in on herself as the tingle burst into a roaring inferno and her throat locked, trapping her scream of surprise in her head. She watched, sickened and fascinated as the bones of her arm coalesce before her very eyes, muscles sluicing out of the stump with squelchy noises as they attach to joints and raw nerves make her back arch in pain as skin seems to melt over her once more intact arm like oil over water. That. Fucking. Hurt.

"Indeed." He was laughing at her. Scrunching her face, she wiggled her fingers and grimaced at the pins and needle feeling.

"What happened with Walter, Master?" She questioned, flexing her arm and testing it curiously.

"He got away." He sounded more amused than disappointed. Seras' brows arched curiously, and her head canted to one side as she peered at him out of the corner of her eye. He was smirking, but his amber lenses hid his eyes.

"What was all this about?" She asked instead, gesturing vaguely to the castle, asking about the whole 'attack the vampires' thing. Well, she could guess why the religious zealots did it, but… Nazis? Seriously?

His smirk widened. "Yes, Police Girl, Nazis. Walter and I dealt with them during the war, but he seems to have defected to their side. How amusing. And 'this' was about me." He laughed. "They are in a race to destroy me now that I am no longer a chained beast."

Seras frowned. "The castle..?"

He shrugged. "I am not called the No Life King for no reason, Police Girl. Vampires respect power, and I am overflowing with it. They are loyal to the old ways, and wished to get a piece of the action." Again his teeth glinted in the half light of the room. He seemed to be enjoying himself.

She hesitated. "Why were you so angry about Nekette..?"

He straightened and looked down his nose at her, ginger orbs glowing over the rims of his glasses. "That, Police Girl, is a topic for another day."

She sighed. "Yes, Master."

He smirked. "Good girl." He cooed rather sarcastically. She made a face at him.

"What now, Master?"

"Now? It's our turn."

A premonition of the death and destruction to come made her shudder. "Yes, Master."

* * *

_**AN:**_At the bottom, this time. No, no shadow arm. (Maybe later.) I make no promises for or against Pip. This story's gone a **lot** differently than I originally planned. Some parts were lost, and just refused to flow right when retyped.  
I'm not 100% happy with this story, but I'm rather self critical. In any case, even if it takes a while to update, **I'm not giving up on it**. It will end. I know I said it before, but it bears repeating.  
So, yeah, here's where my updates for WCHB end for today. Happy Birthday Lithi!


	31. Chapter 31

**_What Could Have Been_**

**_Ketti:_**So...yeah. Mass update. This story is done. I'm sorry, but it probably sucks. My muse just lost interest in this story. So, yeah. IT'S DONE. Yay? Something. Thanks for reading and sticking with me. Sorry that I couldn't finish this sooner, I just bum tushed it and here it s. See you in another story!

* * *

The remaining survivors gathered in the throne room to plan their counter assault, and Seras was perched on the arm of her Master's (uncomfortably) gilded chair while he lounged with one arm around her waist.

"My allies," her Master began when the last of the vampires settled into the cleared space of the hall – the rubble shoved to the walls with the bodies – and Seras noted that their numbers looked about halved. "The Vatican has sent their attack, and failed. It is time to strike back before they can gather their numbers."

There was a murmur of approval and nodding of heads at his words and Seras observed a slowly growing circle of emptiness around Nekette and her… Grin. The (werewolf) man once more had her in a collar and leash, the iron links curled casually around his wrist as they both looked up at the throne and its occupants.

"We shall strike fear in their hearts as we march to the Vatican, under cover of cloak and cloud, and a river of blood shall run in our wake!" Alucard laughed, and his teeth gleamed long and sharp in his mouth, "It is time to go to war, to tear down the Catholic dogs at their heart, and rule over the mortals like the days of our beginnings." The crowd cheered and waved their fists in the air, and Seras privately thought that they looked like people trying to do the wave during a ball game.

Her Master's fingers pinched her hip lightly and she had to fight back the urge to squeak or jump in surprise, and pasted an innocent look on her face when she peered up at him – yes, up, because he was so bloody tall, even when sitting. He smirked at her, and stood, dragging her up with him to stand in front of him, completely dwarfed by the intimidating figure of her Sire. His powers flooded the enormous room and the gathering of vampires found themselves at the foot of the mountain, their eyes glowing red in the moonlight above. Without another word, he turned and began to march southwest with Seras forced to walk in front of him quite awkwardly for their difference in leg length. She fidgeted a bit as his hands settled on her hips, and felt a flush creeping up her cheeks. About thirty minutes in she wiggled free and dropped back to walk a few paces behind him instead, observing her surroundings curiously as the army of vampires took the dramatic route of 'look at me, I'm coming, and you can't stop me'.

About an hour later, Seras' ears twitched and a shiver crawled down her spine as she felt one of the crowd bridge the gap between them, and she half turned her head, only to sigh in relief. It was only Nekette. The mad woman gave her a knowing grin and walked beside her in silence for a moment, and Seras felt envious of the other's long and shimmering hair – it was practically a cloak! – that reflected the moonlight like spun silver.

**_'Does the pretty thing have a question?'_** The voice seeped into her head, and she faltered briefly in her step, before glancing ahead at her Master, and then back at her … well, she'd like to consider Nekette a friend. **_'Wouldn't it be faster to just… phase? Or take a train? Master and I took a train to get here in the first place.'_** Seras asked, wondering if the other would know the answer.

**_'The build up can be just as important as the battle itself, fledgling.'_** The deep rumbling bass of her Master cutting into the females' conversation almost made Seras jump, and she thought over his words before making a face. Dramatist.

"But that's half the fun." Nekette cackled and draped an arm around Seras' shoulder to nuzzle her cheek into the Draculina's, "You wouldn't want to deny us our fun, now, would you pretty thing?"

Seras squirmed and ducked out from under the elder vampire's arm, "And a river of blood in our wake." She mocked quietly, "What is this, the Crusade? "

"Of a sorts." Alucard cut in once more, grinning viciously at her over his shoulder.


	32. Chapter 32

_**What Could Have Been**_

* * *

They were still walking come daylight, and Seras was huddled within her Master's cloak, forced to quick walk twice as fast to keep up with him and stay under the cover of his cape. She'd asked about getting her own, but he merely laughed at her, and offered to share his. Getting over the mountains had been tiring, and Seras yawned, leaning heavily into Alucard's side with her arm wrapped around his waist for support.

Another face splitting yawn cracked her jaw and she half stumbled in her tiredness. "We're nearly there." Alucard murmured, but did not slow his steps. Seras groaned and found herself walking without much conscious thought, half asleep on her feet. The 'there' turned out to be that castle they'd stayed at … Seras wasn't really sure how long aog, time had blurred between 'now' and 'then'. Also, she was bloody tired. The entourage of vampires going to war rested for the remainder of the day, and presumably gathered more allies, because when Seras woke up curled into her Master's lap, their group was notably larger.

Another grand speech later – she wasn't paying much attention, too absorbed in guzzling the cup of blood set in front of her – they set back off on their dramatic way to a dramatic war for a drama-… she coughed mentally and stopped her rambling thoughts, aware of the pulse of her Master's amusement against her mind. Seras looked up at the sky as they waltzed out of the castle's keep, noting that a gathering storm was brewing and threatening rain. The rain never came, but plenty of thunder and lightning erupted around them as they set off once more. Seras could smell the sharp tang of ozone and the bitter choking film of smoke in their wake as the storm set trees and houses ablaze. She did her best to block out the screams and the alluring call of blood as they passed through towns and villages, ignoring the sharp ache of her teeth in her gums.

The next day dawned with an unnatural fog bank rolling across the land, the storm clouds silent but menacing overhead as the army of cloaked vampires marched into the diluted sunlight.

Five days later found them at the borders of Italy, and Seras was unsurprised to find a small army of white clad holy rollers facing them. Well, when you're making your way across seven counties in a week surrounded by fog, storms, and death, it's not very subtle. But Seras could tell from the wind caressing their faces that the forces facing them were entirely human, no Regenerators in the lot. Pity.


	33. Chapter 33

_**What Could Have Been**_

* * *

It was a massacre, pure and simple. Seras had the Harkonnen strapped to her back, but refrained from using it until necessary, and her dress, and skin, and hair, were soaked with blood. Nekette appeared at her side in a similar state – though her hair remained immaculate – and swiped her tongue along the blonde's cheek before winking and vanishing into the remaining crowd of dying humans. By now it was rather apparent that something terribly wrong was happening in the streets of Italy and the clueless mortals huddled in their homes and cried oceans of tears. Even the reporters, usually so quick to arrive on scene, had yet to appear. Seras didn't blame them. The police went the way of the holy army, down the throats of the vampire siege.  
They lost very few of their number, so bloated on blood and power, and only the most adept soldier managed to fire their blessed bullets into a vital organ before they themselves were killed. Seras observed this all in her Master's shadow, all human emotion forcibly locked into a corner of her mind.

When they arrived at the Vatican itself, her Master turned to her with his blood crazed smile and mad eyes and commanded her to fire upon the building. Her hands shook as she lined up the cannon with the walls of the holy place. She fired. Concrete and stone exploded outwards in a shower of shrapnel, and she reloaded. Again, and again, and again. The Regenerist Army charged them amidst the chaos, but Seras was (relatively) safe as she blew the building to smithereens, She tried not to enjoy it too much.

Seras Victoria, fledgling of Alucard, former Police Girl, was a murderer. A vampire. She kept herself detached from the whole affair until her supply of depleted uranium and incendiary bullets ran dry. Dropping the weapon from numb fingers, she looked upon her handiwork and was torn between the urge to smile or cry.

As she looked she saw something strange appear in the clouds of smoke and ashes – something unnaturally round and smooth that looked… She stared, baffled, at the fleet of dirigibles – flying the nazi colors - that appeared to ring the decimated city. Well, damn.


	34. Chapter 34

_**What Could Have Been**_

* * *

Seras watched with horrified fascination as another vampire army dropped from the sky, but these undead weren't on their side in the least. Looking around her for perhaps the first time since the whole mess started, she saw her Master locked in combat with Alexander Anderson, a gleeful look on his dark face. _At least Master's enjoying himself,_ Seras thought quite uncharitably.

Nekette dropped out of no where to stand next to her, and Seras shuddered at the pulse of her madness against the edges of her mind. Another presence appeared on her other side, familiar but alien. It was him, Nekette's werewolf. "Happy happy kill kill," Nekette crowed as she watched the enemy approach. Seras shot her a clear 'double ewe tee eff, mate?' look, and was laughed at for her trouble.

The second battle began with a rain of bullets from the sky. Seras slapped her palm to her forehead and dragged it down her face (leaving a smear of blood in its wake) as she just _stared_ at what they were expected to deal with. "Seriously, I mean, come on, **_fucking seriously?_**"

Grin shrugged, and patted her head condescendingly, "Vampires." He said the word as if it were an explanation for everything. It kind of was.

"Hey," she said after a moment, noticing the rain of undead has stopped, "can you throw me up there?" She pointed to the lead zeppelin, and Grin shrugged before picking her up by the waist and tossing her like a discus. One little speck of gold and red flew into the sky, and – with a hefty bit of concentration – managed to attach herself to the underside of the hot air war balloon. She was a little surprised no one else had thought of it as she ran along the curved surface towards the entrance hatch. When she managed to force the door open, she was met with a bullet to the face. That really hurt, but didn't stop her – it wasn't silver or blessed, after all – and she found herself blown quite literally to multiple pieces as the rather frantic soldier on the other side of the door tried to use the impact force to fling her off the air ship. Unfortunately for him it didn't work. Seras launched herself at his throat and tore it out in a shower of blood, most of it going down her own to help regenerate her wounds. She picked up the lower half of her arm and jammed it back into place as the red liquid around her absorbed into her skin. "No wonder Master lets them do this, it's rather fun." She laughed, and there was a faint edge of hysteria in the sound, but she picked up the empty gun and looted the corpse for his ammo clips, and made her way towards the control deck.

She made it about halfway there – according to the little map plaques on the walls – when she was met with something other than the remaining soldiers on board – a … cat boy? She blinked.

That was her sole reaction.

She blinked.

"What?"

"Guten tag, frauline."


	35. Chapter 35

_**What Could Have Been**_

* * *

"Sooo…" Seras drawled, canting her head to the side, "I take it you're here to stop me?"

"Oh my, yes! Ze Major has told me to delay you. Won't zat be fun?" The little boy laughed, and his ears twitched.

Seras shrugged, "I guess? This whole thing's rather ridiculous."

"But zat is half ze fun!" He countered with another laugh, "My name, frauline, is Schrodinger." His brows wiggled, and she laughed herself, she couldn't help it. "Well, I'm Seras. I don't really want to kill you… Can we strike a deal?" She tried, looking hopeful.

"Perhaps… Vat did you have in mind, Seras?"

Her face went blank as she thought.

"…Have you ever had a thumb war?" She asked after a moment, feeling rather lame.

"No, vat is zat?" Schrodinger sounded so excited that Seras felt guilty, taking advantage of him.

"Well, you clasp your hands like this," she demonstrated with her own, "and try to pin the other person's thumb down for the count of three to win. Do you want to try? If I win, you let me pass, if you win, I'll surrender. That sounds fair, right?"

"Oh my!" Schrodinger clapped his hands and grinned at her, "So exciting. Ya, ya, let is play, Seras!"

Seras held her hand out towards him and he extended his own, they wove their fingers together and held their thumbs up in the air as Seras chanted the little intro to the game. "One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war." Their thumbs passed over the other as Seras continued the last line, "Five, six, seven, eight, try to keep your thumb straight. Begin!"

Both thumbs stayed straight for what felt like an eternity before Seras faked a swing at the cat boy, waiting for him to fall for the bait. He did and she quickly pinned his thumb but he managed to pull back before she could finish her count to three. He laughed and his ears stood upright eagerly.

Schrodinger was the one to feint next, but Seras was wise to the trick and pinned him a second time, he barely managed to squirm free before he lost. Their thumbs pressed together and Seras pushed back lightly to test his endurance. He tried to outmaneuver her and failed, the self proclaimed pro at silly games pinning him a third time and winning.

He looked heart broken, but did nothing to deter her. On impulse she ruffled his hair with the hand that had won her the little war, "Rematch when this is over?" She offered, and he cheered up instantly.

Seras always was a fan of cats.


	36. Chapter 36

_**What Could Have Been**_

* * *

It was only when Seras at long, long, long-long-long-long last made it to the control room that… The air ship began to sink. What? She didn't even get her dramatic moment!

"Little vampire whore, what have you done?" A female voice shrieked from the otherwise deserted cock pit, and Seras looked up to find a woman dressed in skin tight leather brandishing a scythe at her. Oh goody, the last battle. Hopefully.

"I didn't actually do anything…" Seras trailed off, shrugging, "but whatever. Let's fight already."

The woman laughed and leered at her as she swung her arm up into the air before slamming it, palm down, onto the metal floor of the platform, "You're going to love this!"

Darkness surrounded her and Seras was unnerved to realize that she couldn't hear anything, or smell anything, and her skin felt numb in this void of sensation.

"Show me your pain, vampire whore." The Nazi crooned into her ear and Seras tensed as the darkness warped around her and she felt as though she were being dropped through nothingness and straight into a memory. She observed the adults talking about her as though she weren't even there, the way the head master sounded disgusted with her conviction to become a police officer like her father, and she gritted her teeth, "That's ancient history!" She declared, numb to the pain of those memories.

"Let's go to the very bottom!" The voice cackled and Seras felt a palm settle across her face dimly through the spell. The floodgates of memory opened and she screamed. _Mummy… Daddy…_

**_'Police Girl.'_** The whisper of her Master's voice jarred her, but the Nazi bitch didn't seem to notice, "Time to wake up, Seras, did you have a bad dream?" Seras was still weeping tears of blood and hyperventilating, but her inner self was quickly gaining control and screaming at her to _move_.

She flung herself forward just in time, and the tip of the scythe only scratched her back. She winced but tucked herself into a roll and came up on her feet, spinning around to face the shocked face of the other blonde. Zorin bared her teeth in a snarl and launched herself at the Draculina, swinging her scythe again with a curse. Seras ducked and phased out of reach, coming up behind the Nazi to drop kick her in the spine. With a curl of her lips, Seras pulled the machine gun from her side and literally cut the vampire in two with the concentrated rain of bullets. Zorin screamed and screamed until Seras crushed her head beneath her heel, formerly blue eyes glowing with crimson fire as she grinned savagely at the corpse, only to yelp and jump back as it burst into blue flames.

That was when she remembered that the blimp was nose diving the army of vampires in Italy's streets. Looking around her, she ran to the control deck and looked out the window. The other zeppelins were doing the same. What the hell?!

She really didn't fancy getting caught in the blast. Where the hell was the rest of the crew and the Major that Schrodinger had talked about?

Cursing the insanity of it all, Seras used her gun to bust the window out and leapt onto the side of the quickly descending dirigible, feet sticking easily through the powers of vampires, and magic, and fuck you, that's how. Looking down, she saw her Master and Walter in a confrontation, and two wolves fighting, one white, the other black, and the continuous back and forth slaughter of Nazi grenadiers and the old bloods who allied themselves with her Sire. "Overkill, much?" Seras muttered before jumping and tucking herself into a ball to lessen the impact ratio. Actually, her plan was to phase through the ground and hide from the inevitable explosion of the gases trapped within the manifolds of the war balloons, because, damnit, catching on fire would _really_ hurt.

Surprisingly enough, she found herself in an underground chamber with two white coated men. They looked startled to see her, and Seras saw Schrodinger leaning against the shorter man's side, a grin on his face.

"Uh… Hi?" Seras blinked.

"You see, my Major, I told you she was pretty." Schrodinger whispered, before giggling. Seras' brow twitched. Wait… Major? As in the guy leading the whole assault in the first place?

"Oh, the pretty thing found them!" An all too familiar voice cooed as she felt a body press up against her back, "Such a smart little pretty thing." Nekette crooned as she nuzzled her cheek into Seras'.

"Now Ketti gets to have more fun!" The vampiress laughed and Seras felt a bit nauseas as the elder's power flared around them in a wave of writhing shadows. Seras' mind shut down for a moment at the pressure of being in such confined quarters with the compressed madness. When her vision cleared she found, a bit anticlimactically in her opinion, that the two men were gone and the cat boy lay unconscious at their feet. Nekette stepped _through_ Seras, which was totally bizarre, and picked up the limp form of the miniature Nazi, cuddling him to her chest. "I shall pet him, and hold him, and call him George."

Seras blinked again.

"Sooo… it's over, right?"

A shuddering boom exploded above them, followed by three more as the miniature fleet of war balloons collided with the ground above them. Nekette laughed, "Yep! Wasn't it _fun_?"

"Fun…yeah…sure."


	37. Mini Epilogue

_**What Could Have Been: Mini Epilogue **_

* * *

And so it came to pass that the world was swallowed by blood and flame and came out the other side with vampires ruling the European countries like kings. History was remade, and Christendom hit a new low in its influence over the masses.

The end.

Seras found herself dropped in the lap of a rather oddly dressed fellow with a top hat, who immediately began to pet her, "A kitten! Oh, I've always wanted a kitten." Seras wasn't sure how to feel about that.

"Teach her the proper court manners, Odis." Alucard commanded, and bared his teeth in a parody of a grin, "and keep her away from Nekette."

"Bu-…what?" Seras sputtered, and squirmed, only to be held fast and cuddled even tighter by the man called Odis. "Oh pay him no mind, little kitten. Call me Renny!"

The end.

No, really, it is.

…Okay, one last scene.

"Master!" Seras phased into the throne room and dropped herself onto his lap with a grin, "Renny said you have a surprise for me?" She did her best not to bounce excitedly, and ignored the small gathering of vampires with ease. It had been months now, and she'd grown used to the constant presence of nosferatu watching her with her Sire.

Alucard smirked knowingly at her and draped an arm around her shoulders, drawing her close to his chest, "It's waiting in your room." He murmured into her ear before she vanished just as swiftly as she'd arrived.

Seras rematerialized, blinking, on her bed. She shook her head, muttered 'show off' and looked around eagerly.

There was a box on the floor, and she leaped at it, tearing the paper off to reveal a strange piece of paper. "Huh?"

Scanning the words, she nearly squealed.

_You are allowed to go into town and buy __one__ pet._

She was so going to get a cat.

Laughing, she phased out of the castle, and reappeared on the mountain path, skipping her way gaily towards her promised acquisition of a cute fuzzy animal all her own.

THE END!

FOR REALZ MAN.

*hides inside a barrel, with headphones on to not hear any complaints about how lame the ending is*

**As a small note; I kinda screwed up Renny's original "name" being Milo. So let's go with 'Milo and Odis' as an explanation. XP **Yes, that's all I'm going to add as a response to any reviews. Because this story is over and there will never be a sequel. Because, seriously, it'd be terrible.


End file.
